German, Irregular Stems in Imperfect, Location vs. Direction, Future Tens

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German - Irregular Stems in Imperfect, Location vs. Direction, Future Tense

Irregular Stems in Imperfect

Irregular verbs have a different stem for the past tense and add different endings than those of the regular verbs. You will have to memorize these stems, as they are unpredictable.

**Irregular Stems**
singen-to sing	sang-	bleiben-to stay	blieb-	sehen-to see	sah-
fahren-to ride, travel	fuhr-	essen-to eat	aß-	sprechen-to speak	sprach-
finden-to find	fand-	fliegen-to fly	flog-	stehen-to stand	stand-
lesen-to read	las-	geben-to give	gab-	tragen-to carry	trug-
nehmen-to take	nahm-	rufen-to call	rief-	waschen-to wash	wusch-
kommen-to come	kam-	schlafen-to sleep	schlief-	helfen-to help	half-
gehen-to go	ging-	schreiben-to write	schrieb-	nennen-to name	nann-

**Irregular Imperfect Endings**
-	-en
-st	-t
-	-en

Note: There are no endings for the 1st and 3rd person singular. If the verb stem ends in an s sound (such as aß-), the du form ending becomes -est (du aßest.) If the verb stem ends in -t or -d, the ihr form ending becomes -et while the du form ending sometimes becomes -est. Most verb stems do add -est in the du form, but some do not. For example, finden is conjugated without the -e- (du fandst) while sich befinden is conjugated with the -e- (du befandest dich.) Similarly, stehen is conjugated without the -e- (du standst) while verstehen is conjugated with the -e- (du verstandest.) The other main verbs that are conjugated without the -e- are braten (brietst; to roast), erfinden (erfandst, to invent), laden (ludst, to invite), leiden (littst, to suffer), and schneiden (schnittst, to cut).

Location vs. Direction

When talking about locations, the prepositions in, an, auf and bei (followed by the dative case) are used to signify fixed locations, while aus and von (also followed by the dative case) are used to signify origin.

in	enclosed spaces	Ich bin in der Kirche. Wir sind in der Schule.	I'm at church. We are at school.
an	denotes border or limiting area	Er ist am See. Das Bild ist an der Wand.	He is at the lake. The picture is on the wall.
auf	on surfaces, or at public buildings	Es ist auf dem Tisch. Sie sind auf der Bank.	It's on the table. They are at the bank.
bei	before name of place or business where someone lives or works	Ich arbeite bei McDonald's. Ich wohne bei meiner Tante.	I work at McDonald's. I live at my Aunt's (house).
aus	comes from enclosed or defined space, such as country, town or building	Sie kommt aus dem Zimmer. Ich komme aus den USA.	She comes from the bedroom. I come from the USA.
von	comes from open space, particular direction or person	Das Auto kommt von rechts. Ich weiß es von ihm.	The car comes from the right. I know it from him.

When talking about directions or going to a place, the prepositions in and auf followed by the accusative case or zu and nach followed by the dative case are used.

in	building or enclosed space; countries and cities that have definite articles*	Ich gehe in die Kirche. Ich fliege in die USA.	I'm going to church. I'm flying to the USA.
auf	open spaces or public buildings	Er geht auf den Markt. Ich gehe auf die Bank.	He's going to the market. I'm going to the bank.
zu	specifically named buildings or places, and people	Sie geht zum Strand. Sie gehen zu McDonald's.	She's going to the beach. They're going to McDonald's.
nach	countries and cities that have no articles	Ich fliege nach Österreich. Ich fliege nach Paris.	I'm flying to Austria. I'm flying to Paris.

* Only a few countries include the articles, such as der Iran (m.), die Niederlande (pl.), die Schweiz (f.), die Türkei (f.), and die USA (pl.), because they are not neuter.

Note: Remember the two idioms with Haus: zu Hause is a location and means at home, while nach Hause is a direction and means (to) home.

Future Tense

The future tense is simple to form in German. Just use the present tense forms of werden and put the other infinitive to the end of the sentence. Note that German usually relies on the present tense to indicate the future (this is called implied future), and uses time expressions, such as tonight, tomorrow, etc. to do so. Wir gehen morgen nach Deutschland is translated as we are going to Germany tomorrow, and implies a future action, yet it uses the present tense, in both German and English. To express present or future probability, use wohl (probably) with the future tense.

**Werden**
werde		werden
wirst		werdet
wird		werden

I will fly to Germany. Ich werde nach Deutschland fliegen.
You will help me! Du wirst mir helfen!
We will learn Latin. Wir werden Latein lernen.
My friend should be home now. Mein Freund wird jetzt wohl zu Hause sein. (Expresses probability)