Verbs are used to describe an action.
Verb tense and type
The sentence you use determines the verb tense. For example, if you’re talking about:
Deciding which tense to use
| Decides tense | Tense to use |
|---|---|
| Something that is happening right now or happens all the time | Present |
| Something that happened in the past | Perfect (sometimes imperfect) |
| Something that is going to happen in the future | Future |
| Something that might happen (but isn’t definite) | Conditional |
| Something that happened before something else in the past | Pluperfect |
| Something you want someone to do (a command) | Imperative |
| Something that I would like to/can/should do | Modal verbs |
Comparison of the various tenses
Here are some key features of each tense to help you recognise them. Look at the similarities as well as the differences.
Verbs with example usage
| Auxiliary verb | Other features | Examples | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present | N/A | N/A |
|
| Imperfect | N/A | N/A |
|
| Imperative | N/A | N/A |
|
| Perfect | haben/sein (present) | Past Participle at the end |
|
| Pluperfect | haben/sein (imperfect) | Past Participle at the end |
|
| Future | werden | Infinitive at the end |
|
| Conditional | würden | Infinitive at the end |
|
| Modal verbs | müssen/können/mögen /dürfen/wollen/sollen | Infinitive at the end |
|
