GERMAN PAST TENSE IN ENGLISH/FRENCH



GERMAN PAST TENSE IN ENGLISH/FRENCH

E Omutere

Reference: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/SimplePast/SimplePast.html

The Two German Past Tenses :The simple past and the present perfect:                                                                                   In German, as in English, the simple past differs from the present perfect, in that it describes past events that are interrelated within a time frame that is separate from the present. Hence it is typically used in narratives. in spoken German, the simple past is perceived as formal. Colloquial narratives often use the present perfect tense: "Ich bin nach Hause gegangen und habe meinem Mann gesagt...."

In ordinary conversation, then, the simple past is unusual. There are however, a few exceptions, primarily the verbs "sein," "haben," and the modal auxiliaries. It is quite common to say: "ich war da", instead of "ich bin da gewesen"; "wir hatten eine Katze", instead of "wir haben eine Katze gehabt"; or "sie konnte ihn sehen", rather than "sie hat ihn sehen können." This is particularly true when it serves to cut down on complexity. Even in ordinary speech it is more usual to say "ich musste einen Arzt rufen lassen" than "ich habe einen Arzt rufen lassen müssen."

a.      The Simple Past The Basics (Imperfekt) Actually, it's called "simple" because it's a one-word tense (hatte, ging, sprach, machte) To be precise and technical, the Imperfekt or "narrative past" tense refers to a past event that is not yet fully completed (Latin perfect), However, it is sometimes useful to think of the "narrative past" as being used to describe a series of connected events in the past, i.e., a narrative. ) Used less in conversation and more in print/writing, the simple past, narrative past, or imperfect tense is often described as the more "formal" of the two basic past tenses in German and it is found primarily in books and newspapers. Therefore, with a few important exceptions, for the average learner it is more important to recognize and be able to read the simple past than to use it. (Such exceptions include helping verbs such as haben, sein, werden, the modal verbs, and few others, whose simple past tense forms are often used in conversation as well as written German.)

The German simple past tense may have several English equivalents. A phrase such as, "er spielte Golf," can be translated into English as: "he was playing golf," "he used to play golf," "he played golf," or "he did play golf," de pending on the context (Simple Past)

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b.      The present perfect is a compound tense (hat gehabt, ist gegangen, habe gesprochen, haben gemachtAdd the ge- (prefix to that and you get the that): ). is used to describe isolated events in the past. The present perfect is a compound (two-word) tense formed by combining an auxiliary (helping) verb with the past participle. Its name comes from the fact that the "present" tense form of the auxiliary verb is used, and the word "perfect," which, as we mentioned above, is Latin for "done/completed." (The past perfect [pluperfect, Plusquamperfekt] uses the simple past tense of the auxiliary verb.) This particular German past tense form is also known as the "conversational past," reflecting its primary use in conversational, spoken German. Because the present perfect or conversational past is used in spoken German, it is important to learn how this tense is formed and used.

Examples of The Simple Past (Imperfekt)phrases

Any regular German verb uses the basic -te ending to form the simple past, similar to the -ed past ending in English. The past-tense ending is added to the verb stem exactly as in the present tense. "He played" thus becomes er spielte. To conjugate any regular verb in the simple past, you simply add the past-tense ending to the stem.

As in the present tense, each "person" (he, you, they, etc.) requires its own ending on the verb. There are four (4) unique endings in the German simple past tense, one less than in the present tense (because the endings for ich and the third person are identical in the past). The simple past tense endings are: -te (ich, er/sie/es), -test (du), -tet (ihr), and -ten (Sie, wir, sie [pl.]). Unlike English, the past tense ending is not always the same: I played = ich spielte, we played = wir spielten. Now let's look at all the conjugations of spielen in the simple past tense. (To learn more about when to use the simple past versus the present perfect (below),

 weakverbs form simple past by adding –(e)te,-(e)test, e)ten, or –(e)tet, to the stem:

Ich sagte das. Je ai dit que. I said that.
Wir machten die Tür zu Nous sommes allés à la porte We closed the door.	.
Du kauftest zu viel. Vous avez acheté trop. You bought too much	.
Ihr wohntet neben uns. Vous avez vécu à côté de nous. Y'all lived next to us	.
Sie arbeiteten hart. Ils ont travaillé dur You worked hard	.
Es regnete stark. Il pleuvait très fort. It rained hard.
Sie redeten viel. Ils parlaient beaucoup. They talked a lot

The irregular weak verbs, including the modal auxiliaries, add these same endings to a (usually) changed stem:

Ich wollte das hören. Je voulais entendre I wanted to hear that
Wir durften das nicht sagen. Nous ne étions pas autorisés à le dire We weren't allowed to say that
Du nanntest ihn Hans. Tu l'as appelé Hans.You named him Hans
Ihr wusstet das schon. Vous saviez déjà que.Y'all knew that already
Sie konnten das nicht wissen. Vous pourriez ne pas savoir You couldn't know that
Sie brachte den Wein. Elle a apporté le vin She brought the wine
Sie verbrannten die Bücher. Ils ont brûlé les livres They burned the books

The remaining strong verbs (usually) change the stem and add either no ending or -st, -en, or -t:

Ich ging nach Hause. Je rentrai chez moi. I went home	.
Wir sahen ihn nicht. Nous ne l'avons pas vu We didn't see him.
Du sprachst zu schnell. Vous avez parlé trop vite You spoke too fast.
Ihr halft uns nicht. Vous ne nous Halft pas. Y'all didn't help us	.
Sie schliefen lang. Ils dormaient longtemps They slept late	.
Sie las das Buch. Elle a lu le livre She read the book.
Sie schrieben es auf Deutsch. Ils ont écrit en allemand. They wrote it in German	.

As in the present tense, the finite verb might have a separable prefix, which then goes to the end of the clause:

Wir kauften immer montags ein. Nous avons toujours acheté un lundi We always shopped on Monday	.
Sie brachte ihren neuen Freund mit. Elle a apporté avec son nouveau copain She brought her new boyfriend along.
Er lud uns dieses Mal nicht ein. Il ne nous invite cette fois. He didn't invite us this time	.
mother

Examples of The present perfect The Basics (perfekt)phrases

The present perfect tense describes a past event that has present tense implications (compare

the simple past "I cooked twice this week" with the present perfect: "I have cooked twice this

week" - the former implies that that's all the cooking I'm going to do, while the latter suggests

that I might cook more)

Weak verbs typically form the past participle by adding the prefix "ge-" and a suffix of "-t" or

"-et" to the stem

 All regular German verbs have a basic past participle form based on the third person singular form. The third person form of the verb spielen is (er) spielt. Add the ge- prefix to that and you get the past participle: gespielt. All regular verbs follow this same pattern: gesagt, gemacht, getanzt, etc.

To form the present perfect tense, you take the past participle (gespielt/played) and use it with an auxiliary or helping verb (usually a form of haben, sometimes sein). The present perfect tense gets its name from the fact that you combine the present tense of the auxiliary verb with the participle to form the tense. (The past perfect is similar, using the past tense of the auxiliary verb.) In most cases, the past participle is placed at the end of the sentence: "Wir haben die ganze Nacht getanzt." (We danced all night.)

To say "I have played" (or "I played") in the German present perfect, you say: "Ich habe gespielt." After you study the chart below, you will grasp the idea even better.

Wir haben schwer gearbeitet. -Nous avons travaillé dur.-We worked hard. Ich habe nichts gehört.- Je ne ai rien entendu -I didn't hear anything

If the verb has a separable prefix, the "ge" becomes an infix; it is placed between the prefix

and the stem:

Wir haben die Tür zugemacht Nous avons fermé la porte. We closed the door	.
Ich habe eingekauft. -Je ai magasiné -I went shopping

If the verb ends in -ieren, there is no ge- added:

Das hat gut funktioniert. Cela a bien fonctionné That worked well.
Hast du auch die Küche renoviert? Avez-vous aussi été rénové la cuisine?Did you renovate the kitchen, too

Strong verbs

The "irregular strong verbs," including the modal auxiliaries when they are not

associated with another verb in the infinitive, add the suffix "-t" or "-et" to a (usually)

changed stem:

Ich habe das nicht gewollt Je ne ai pas voulu.. I didn't want that.
Als Kind habe ich gut Chinesisch gekonnt Comme un enfant je habilement bonnes chinois. As a child I could speak. Chinese well
Sie hat das nicht gewusst. Elle ne savait pas que. She didn't know that.
Was hast du mir gebracht? Qu'avez-vous me apporter What did you bring me?

The remaining strong verbs add "-en" to a stem that may or may not be changed.

Ich habe meinen Hut gefunden Je ai trouvé mon chapeau. I found my hat. .
Du hast zu schnell gesprochen. Vous avez parlé trop vite You spoke too fast	.
Haben Sie gut geschlafen? Avez-vous bien dormi? Did you sleep well	?
Sie hat mein Buch nicht gelesen. Vous ne avez pas lu mon livre She didn't read my book

These strong verbs fall into distinct categories. Here is a list of the most common strong

verbs, arranged in those groups

The rules about the prefix "ge-" remain the same:

Was hast du mitgebracht? Qu'avez-vous apporté? What did you bring along?
Das Konzert hat schon begonnen Le concert a déjà commencé The concert has already begun..
Sie hat schon alles aufgegessen. Elle a tout mangé. She has already eaten up everything.
Die Kinder haben den ganzen Tag ferngesehen. Les enfants regardaient la télévision toute la journée The children watched TV all day.
Wir haben etwas anderes vorgehabt. Nous avons prévu quelque chose d'autre

We planned to do something else.

..

The Auxiliary Verb: Most verbs, as in the examples above, take "haben," but some

Ich ging nach Hause. Je rentrai chez moi. I went home	.
Wir sahen ihn nicht. Nous ne l'avons pas vu. We didn't see him	.
Du sprachst zu schnell. Vous avez parlé trop vite You spoke too fast	.
Ihr halft uns nicht. Vous ne nous Halft pas. Y'all didn't help us	.
Sie schliefen lang. Ils dormaient longtemps They slept late	.
Sie las das Buch. Elle a lu le livre She read the book	.
Sie schrieben es auf Deutsch Ils ont écrit en allemand. They wrote it in German	.

As in the present tense, the finite verb might have a separable prefix, which then goes to

the end of the clause:

Wann bist du nach Hause gekommen ?Quand avez-vous arrivez à la maison?? When did you come home?
Wir sind ins Kino gegangen. Nous sommes allés au cinéma. We went to the movies	.
Seid ihr geflogen oder gefahren? Vous avion ou en voiture Did y'all fly or drive?
Er ist alt geworden. Il a vieilli. He's gotten old.
Sie sind in der Stadt geblieben Ils sont restés dans la ville. They stayed in the city..
Die Musik ist sehr laut gewesen. La musique était très fort. The music was very loud

The verbs that take "sein" are mostly predictable on the basis of their meaning. They

must satisfy two conditions: 1) they must be intransitive; 2) they must indicate a

change of position or of condition. In the example "Wir sind nach Hause gegangen,"

the verb "gehen" 1) takes no direct object and 2) describes motion from one place to

another. The same is true with

Sie ist spät aufgestanden Elle se levait tard She got up late.
Er ist gestern angekommen. Il est arrivé hier He arrived yesterday
Ich bin langsam gelaufen Je marchais lentement I ran (or walked) slowly.

Examples of a change of condition

Ihr Ring ist schon grün geworden Votre anneau est déjà devenu vert. Her ring has already turned green.
Er ist gestern gestorben. Il est mort hier He died yesterday
Die Pflanze ist schnell gewachsen. L'usine a connu une croissance rapide The plant grew fast
Ich bin sofort eingeschlafen. Je me suis endormi immédiatement I fell asleep immediately

There are two obvious exceptions to these rules: "bleiben" and "sein". While they are intransitive (or, from another point of view, take the nominative case), they clearly do not show a change of position or condition. In fact, they specifically mean not to make such a change. Nevertheless, they take "sein." "Folgen" might also be a surprise, unless we consider its use of the dative.

Er ist zu Hause geblieben.  Il est resté à la maison He stayed home
Er ist ein Junge geblieben.  Il est resté un garçon He remained a boy
Es ist immer so gewesen.  Il a toujours été de cette façon It was always that way..
Der Mann ist mir nach Hause gefolgt.  L'homme me suivit la maison The man followed me home

Two other verbs, lassen and helfen, also form double infinitives

Wir haben ein Haus bauen lassen. Nous devons construire une maison We had a house built.
Ich habe ihr kochen helfen. also possible: Ich habe ihr kochen geholfen Je l'aide cuisinier. I helped her cook

Double Infinitives

The modal auxiliaries behave differently when paired with an infinitive. The present

perfect form of "Ich kann Deutsch" is "Ich habe Deutsch gekonnt." But "Ich kann

Deutsch sprechen" becomes "Ich habe Deutsch sprechen können." Other examples:

Ich habe das nicht wissen können. Je ne aurais pas connu I couldn't know that	.
Sie hat das nicht machen müssen Elle n'a pas eu à le faire. She didn't have to do that	.
Wir haben ihm nicht schreiben dürfen Nous ne sommes pas autorisés à lui écrire. We weren't allowed to write to him	.

In these cases, the double infinitive remains in the final position in dependent clauses, and the "haben" slips into the second-the-last place

Bist du sicher, dass sie das Buch hat lesen können? Etes-vous sûr qu'il a le livre à lire? Are you sure that she was able to read the book? Wir sind nach Hause gegangen, weil wir keine Karten haben kaufen können.  Nous sommes allés à la maison parce que nous ne avons pas à acheter des billets We went home because we couldn't buy any tickets. Es ist schade, dass du ihn nie hast singen hören. est dommage que vous ne avez jamais entendu chanter It's too bad that you've never heard him sing.

The modal can have a different meaning when combined with another verb that is in the past. Note the following distinctions

Sie hat das sagen dürfen. Elle peut dire que. She was allowed to say that
Sie darf das gesagt haben. Vous avez peut-être dit cela She may have said that
Er hat mir einen Brief schreiben können. Il peut me écrire une lettre. He was able to write me a letter
Er kann mir einen Brief geschrieben haben Il aurait pu me écrit une lettre. He may have written me a letter.
Sie haben mich nach Hause tragen müssen Vous devez me ramener à la maison. They had to carry me home.
Sie müssen mich nach Hause getragen haben. Vous devez me avez porté la maison. They must have carried me home
Ihr habt mir helfen sollen. Vous devez me aider. You were supposed to help me
Ihr sollt mir geholfen haben. Vous me avez aidé. You are supposed to have helped me.
Er hat es finden wollen. Il voulait trouver. He wanted to find it.
Er will es gefunden haben. Il prétend avoir trouvé He claims to have found it