Present / das PräsensPresent and FutureThe most common German tense of all, the present tense is primarily used to describe actions taking
place now. With that said, it can also be used to describe planned and agreed upon future actions, or
events that usually, sometimes or never happen.High

• Ich lese das Buch
• Das ist John

Perfect / das PerfektPast and PresentThe perfect tense in German is used to describe an action that took place in the past, with present
tense implications. It is the most common past tense for conversation and is made up of a pronoun or
noun, an auxiliary verb, an optional extra and a past participle. The focus is on the result of the
action.High

• Ich habe Tennis gespielt
• Meine Mutter hat Mittagessen gegessen

Simple Past / das PräteritumPastUsed to describe completed actions, facts or conditions that occurred in the past, the German past
perfect tense is mainly seen in writing, especially in things like stories and newspaper reports.
However, it is far less common to hear it in spoken conversation.Medium

• Er las ein Buch
• Ich arbeitete in England

Past Perfect / das PlusquamperfektPastAlso known as the pluperfect, this tense is used to describe actions or events that precede another
point in the past. For instance, it would be utilised when, in a story about the past, you wish to
describe something that took place even earlier.Low

• Ich war in die Stadt gegangen
• Sie hatte gut gespielt bis sie verletzt wurde

Future / das FuturFutureIn the German language, the future tense is used to express either an intention for, or an assumption
about the future. It is not used quite as frequently as in many other languages, due to the fact that
the present tense can often be used to describe future events instead.Medium

• Morgen werde ich Abendessen kochen
• Sie werden keine Zeit haben

Future Perfect / das Futur IIFutureThe future perfect tense is a complicated and uncommon tense, which is mostly used to make an assumption
that an action will have taken place by a specific time in the future. In addition, it is occasionally
used to express an assumption about an action in the past.Low

• Sie wird morgen angekommen sein
• Bald wird er es geschafft haben

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