11/26/2018 German Tenses – Past, Present and Future – Lingolia

German 

 › Grammar › German Tenses – Past, Present and Future

German Tenses – Past, Present and Future

Introduction
German has six tenses: present (Präsens), present perfect (Perfekt), simple past (Präteritum), past
perfect (Plusquamperfekt), future (Futur I) and future perfect (Futur II).

Learn when to use each of these tenses and how to conjugate them on Lingolia. The list of strong,
weak and mixed verbs will help you to master the conjugation of regular and irregular verbs in German
grammar. Simply click on one of the links below for an in-depth explanation complete with interactive
exercises.

Overview of the Tenses 

The table shows an overview of the conjugation of weak and strong verbs in six German tenses, as
well as tips on the correct usage of each tense.
Example: du lernst
du hast gelernt
du lerntest
du hattest gelernt
du wirst lernen
du wirst gelernt haben

Present 
The present tense (Präsens) is the most often used tense in German. We can use this tense to talk
about the present and the future.
Example: ich lerne
ich sehe

Present Perfect 
 

https://deutsch.lingolia.com/en/grammar/tenses 1/3
11/26/2018 German Tenses – Past, Present and Future – Lingolia

The present perfect (Perfekt) shows that an action took place in the past, but the focuses on the
result of the action.
Example: ich habe gelernt
ich habe gesehen

Simple Past 
The simple past expresses facts and actions that took place in the past. We use this tense for
stories and reports, mostly when writing.
Example: ich lernte
ich sah

Past Perfect 
We use the past perfect to express something that happened before another action in the past. It
is common in storytelling.
Example: ich hatte gelernt
ich hatte gesehen

Future 
We use the future tense to express an intention or supposition for the present or future.
Example: ich werde lernen
ich werde sehen

Future Perfect 
The future perfect expresses the assumption that by the time of speaking, or at a later point, an
action will have been completed.
Example: ich werde gelernt haben
ich werde gesehen haben

 

https://deutsch.lingolia.com/en/grammar/tenses 2/3
11/26/2018 German Tenses – Past, Present and Future – Lingolia

Privacy Policy Imprint  Facebook

DE EN ES FR IT RU

 

https://deutsch.lingolia.com/en/grammar/tenses 3/3