Review: Verb Tenses
When we introduced the verb tenses at the beginning of this course, we told you that you can say whatever you want in German by using just two tenses: the present and the perfect tense.
I. The present is used for all those actions that occur at the same time as the speaker is speaking:
a. Ich studiere Germanistik.
b. Anna öffnet die Tür.
c. Sie macht ihre Hausaufgaben.
d. Die Erde dreht sich um die Sonne.
As the examples a, c, and d show, the actions expressed in the present tense may have started long ago in the past and may last way into the future.
As in English, one uses the present tense for all statements which refer to facts or circumstances which are independent of time:
a. Die Erde ist rund.
b. Die Vereinigten Staaten erstrecken sich vom Atlantik bis zum Pazifik.
The present may also be used for actions that occurred before the time the speaker is speaking, especially if one intends to give a very lively report of past events. (We do this in English informally: Yesterday I'm just sitting at home and the phone rings. In 1929 the book is a best-seller, but does that mean it will make a good movie in 2003?) In this case, one would usually indicate the time by using an adverb or a prepositional phrase:
a. Anne Frank stirbt 1945 im Konzentrationslager Bergen-Belsen.
b. Gestern treffe ich ganz unerwartet einen alten Bekannten.
c. Im September 1939 greift Deutschland Polen an.
English has a number of ways of expressing that an action will take place after the time the speaker is speaking: I will do that, I am going to do that, I will be doing that. As we have noted, Germans can use the present tense where in English we would use a future tense. Sometimes German includes an adverb or a prepositional phrase to indicate that what the speaker expresses in the present tense will take place in the future:
Wir treffen uns in der Mensa.
Wir treffen uns später / in einer Stundein der Mensa.
Du bekommst einen Brief von mir.
Du bekommst bald / in den nächsten Tagen einen Brief von mir.
German does, however, have a future tense form. It is not used very often; really only for special effects! In this chapter, we will learn the future tense forms.
II. The present perfect is normally used for all actions that occurred before the time when the speaker is speaking. This is a composite tense, as you will remember, using the present tense of haben or sein as an auxiliary plus the past participle.
a. Wir haben bei meinen Freunden übernachtet.
b. Sie haben einen Döner gegessen.
c. Wir sind letztes Jahr in die USA geflogen.
d. Ich bin mit dem Zug nach Hamburg gefahren.
This is the all-purpose past tense, and up to now we have called it the "perfect" tense. In this chapter we are going to learn another compound perfect tense, the past perfect. There is a confusing full name for the tense that uses the present of haben or sein + the past participle: it is the present perfect. We have just called it the perfect tense, because this is our most commonly used past tense! But it is good to know the name so that you can recognize it.
We have already had a glimpse of another tense, namely the past tense, which can also be called the simple past (as opposed to the compound perfect tenses)! We had to introduce it with the auxiliaries, both the modals and haben and sein, because the past tense of the auxiliaries is used as often as the perfect.
You will not be surprised to hear that not only the auxiliaries, but also normal verbs use the past tense. In this chapter we will look at the formation and use of THREE tenses: the simple past, the past perfect, and the future.