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Questions about the past tense in German | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Neil_UK Tetraglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5263 days ago 50 posts - 64 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Esperanto, Welsh Studies: Polish, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Scottish Gaelic, French | Message 1 of 8 21 November 2010 at 8:58pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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I need some help with the past tense in German. One of my main questions is, is there a simple rule to convert any verb into the past tense form, or do you have to learn the past for each verb separately? For example, essen > gegessen.
In English, the past tense of 'I eat' can be be expressed in several different ways.... I was eating. I have eaten. I ate. But in English you have the learn the past, for example 'I ate' cannot be figured out from 'to eat', and 'went' cannot be figured out from 'to go'....you have to memorise each one individually...is it the same for German? In German, 'Ich Esse' can be converted to the past....'Ich habe gegessen'....but does this mean 'I have eaten' or 'I was eating' or 'I ate'? How do you express 'was eating', 'was doing' etc....this past tense for 'was doing' in English, how can it be converted to German? I know you can use 'war' for 'was', for example 'Ich war beschäftigt' (I was busy), but can you use 'war' to express 'was eating', 'was doing', i.e. any action you were doing in the past etc??? For example, is it possible to say 'Ich war essen' for 'I was eating' ? That just doesn't seem right to me! Thanks for your help. Edited by Neil_UK on 22 November 2010 at 1:59am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5321 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 2 of 8 21 November 2010 at 9:30pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
I'm afraid, you'll have to learn them by heart. However, as a rule of thumb, if an English verb is irregular, its German counterpart is usually also irregular.
"Ich habe gegessen" can mean both "I ate" or "I have eaten," depending on the context. Note that the regular German past tense (=ich aß) is mostly used in written German these days. Also there are no progressive verb forms. I.e. there are no direct equivalents for "I'm eating," "I have been eating," "I'll be eating" etc.
You can say that, but "Ich war essen" means "I went out for lunch/dinner/breakfast" etc. Good luck with your studies. Edited by Doitsujin on 21 November 2010 at 9:32pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| t123 Diglot Senior Member South Africa https://github.com/t Joined 5612 days ago 139 posts - 226 votes Speaks: English*, Afrikaans | Message 3 of 8 21 November 2010 at 9:45pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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If you're not sure of the conjugation, you can check on
http://www.verbix.com/languages/german.shtml 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| litovec Tetraglot Groupie Switzerland lingvometer.com Joined 5132 days ago 42 posts - 60 votes Speaks: German, Russian, French, English | Message 4 of 8 21 November 2010 at 10:28pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
I concentrate on the following part of your question:
I propose the following conversion schema: I have eaten -> ich habe schon gegessen. Comment: the word "schon" indicates that the action is completed I was eating -> ich war am Essen. Comment: here "Essen" is a noun (das Essen) meaning the process of eating I ate -> ich habe gegessen. Edited by litovec on 21 November 2010 at 10:29pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| B-Tina Tetraglot Senior Member Germany dragonsallaroun Joined 5528 days ago 123 posts - 218 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Polish | Message 5 of 8 21 November 2010 at 10:59pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
I agree - this expression is quite common now. However, it is worth noting that this expression stems from the idiom used in the Ruhrpott (cf. http://linguistik.suite101.de/article.cfm/ruhrpottplatt_als_ mundart ). Note that you can express the gerund as well with the word "gerade", as in "ich esse gerade" or (combined with what litovec said) "ich bin gerade am Essen". 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Neil_UK Tetraglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5263 days ago 50 posts - 64 votes Speaks: English*, German, Esperanto, Welsh Studies: Polish, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Scottish Gaelic, French | Message 6 of 8 22 November 2010 at 7:27pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Ok, thanks for the replies, I'm starting to get it now! I've made a few sentences using the past tense, can you tell me if these are correct? Is the word order still the same for the past as it is for the present tense, i.e. the second verb always goes at the end of the clause?
Ich habe Würste und Pommes Frites gegessen, weil ich sehr hungrig war. Ich habe für 8 Stunden geschlafen, weil ich sehr müde war. Ich habe zum Deutschland gegaganen. (Not sure about this one...for 'went' do you use 'ging' or 'habe gegangen'?) Ich ging nach Deutschland. Ich war in Deutschland letzes jahr. Edited by Neil_UK on 22 November 2010 at 8:24pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| litovec Tetraglot Groupie Switzerland lingvometer.com Joined 5132 days ago 42 posts - 60 votes Speaks: German, Russian, French, English | Message 7 of 8 22 November 2010 at 7:36pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
ok
must be: Ich habe 8 Stunden geschlafen, weil ich sehr müde war. i.e. without "for".
must be: ich bin nach Deutschland gegangen
ok
letzes->letzTes Edited by litovec on 22 November 2010 at 7:38pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Neil_UK Tetraglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5263 days ago 50 posts - 64 votes Speaks: English*, German, Esperanto, Welsh Studies: Polish, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Scottish Gaelic, French | Message 8 of 8 22 November 2010 at 7:43pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Ok, I have some more questions about the past tense, this time using auxiliary verbs.
The main auxiliary verbs used for the past tense are... Konte (could - past tense of can) War (was) Hatte (had - past tense of have) Mussten (had to - past tense of have to/must) Wolten (wanted to - past tense of want) So I will try to make some sentences, can you tell me if I am correct? Ich konte nicht es finden. (I couldn't find it) Ich war sehr beschäftigt heute. (I was very busy today) I hatte viele Autos, aber ich habe nicht viele Autos jetzt. (I had many cars, but I don't have many cars now). Ich musste nach Supermarkt heute gehen (I had to go to the supermarket today....is it correct to use 'gehen' here, or should I have used 'ging' or 'gegangen'?). Ich wolte heute zu Hause bleiben, aber Ich musste ausgehen (I wanted to stay at home today, but I had to go out.) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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