|
Likes and Dislikes
Use the words gern, nicht gern, lieber, and am liebsten after a verb to express preferences.
| Ich spiele gern Fussball. |
I like to play soccer. |
| Ich spiele lieber Hockey |
I prefer to play hockey. |
| Ich spiele am liebsten Tennis. |
I like to play tennis most of all. |
| Ich spiele nicht gern Basketball. |
I don't like to play Basketball. |
Or just use haben with any of the four phrases for general likes/dislikes.
| Ich habe Fussball gern. |
I like soccer. |
| Ich habe Julia am liebsten. |
I like Julia most of all. |
| Ich habe das Restaurant nicht gern. |
I don't like the restaurant. |
Gefallen is another verb used for expressing likes. It literally means to please. To use it correctly, you must switch the object in English with the subject in German. Das Zimmer is the object in English, but it becomes the subject in German. And the object in German (mir) would become the subject in English (I). It is always in the dative case in German.
| German sentence |
Literally |
Translated |
| Das Zimmer gefällt mir. |
The room pleases me. |
I like the room. |
And of course, you could always just use the verb mögen to express likes and dislikes.
Past perfect tense
The Past Perfect Tense or Pluperfect corresponds to the English had + past participle and refers to something that had already happened when something else happened. It consists of the imperfect of haben or sein and a past participle and is comparable to the present perfect tense.
Present perfect: Ich habe in Wiesbaden gewohnt. I (have) lived in Wiesbaden.
Past perfect: Ich hatte in Wiesbaden gewohnt. I had lived in Wiesbaden.
Present perfect: Was ist passiert? What (has) happened?
Past perfect: Was war passiert? What had happened?
Als, wenn and wann
All three words correspond to when and act as subordinating conjunctions (therefore, the conjugated verb goes to the end of the sentence.) Als is used in past time contexts for a single event, wenn is used to mean whenever or if, as well as in future time, and wann is an adverb of time or a question word and can be used in declarative sentences.
| Als ich ihn fand... |
When I found him.. (followed by past tense) |
| Wenn er kommt... |
Whenever he comes...
If he comes...
When he comes... (followed by future tense) |
| Ich weiß, wann er kommt. |
I don't know when (or at what time) he's coming. |
|
German - Likes and Dislikes, Past perfect tense, Als, wenn and wann
