Verb Tenses

In German, there are six verb tenses, but only two of them really require you to modify the verb very much

나머지 시제들은 부정사 또는 분사 + 조동사( auxiliary 또는 “helping” 동사)를 사용합니다.

That’s why, when you learn a German verb, you should also learn the past participle and the simple past form if they’re irregular.

Here are the tenses for the verb tun:

Present:	Er tut es.	He does it.
Preterite (simple past):	Er tat es.	He did it.
Perfect:	Er hat es getan.	He has done it.
Pluperfect:	Er hatte es getan.	He had done it.
Future 1:	Er wird es tun.	He will do it.
Future 2:	Er wird es getan haben.	He will have done it.

In German, the perfect is used for referring to the past in speech. In writing, the preterite is preferred as it sounds more formal. However, there are a few high-frequency verbs such as denken and wissen whose preterite forms are still used often in speech.

Das wusste ich nicht.
I didn’t know that.

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The perfect is formed with haben and the past participle. As in English, there are many irregular past participles. However, the vast majority use the prefix ge-. Any irregularities will be marked in a dictionary as follows:

sehen, sah, hat gesehen (irregular preterite)
to see, saw, have seen

studieren, studierte, hat studiert (irregular participle)
to study, studied, have studied

bringen, brachte, hat gebracht (irregular preterite and participle)
to bring, brought, have brought

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In English, the perfect describes past experiences, but in German it’s necessary to add schon “already” or je “before” to show that something has previously happened in the past.

Ich habe das Buch gelesen
I read the book.

Hast du je Berlin gesehen?
Have you ever seen Berlin?

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It’s important to learn and be able to understand all of the German verb tenses, however, the vast majority of speech is in either the present or perfect, with the future barely trailing after it.

여섯 개의 시제 중 네 개는 조동사(helping verb) haben 또는 werden을 사용한다는 것을 주목하십시오. 이 두 동사는 자주 사용되기 때문에 빨리 외우는 것이 중요합니다.

Ihr habt ihm nicht geholfen
You guys didn’t help him.

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조동사(helping verb) sein>는 동사가 움직임과 관련이 있을 때 드물지만 haben 대신 사용되기도 합니다.

Ich habe ihn gesehen
I saw him.

Ich bin dort gegangen.
I went there.