Two Verb Forms – Verbs Used as Nouns and Simple Past Verb

Two Verb Forms – Verbs Used as Nouns and Simple Past Verb Tense
I. Verbs used as nouns – called gerunds in English
In German, to form a noun from a verb:



We use the *infinitive form of the verb to form the gerund.
We capitalize the noun.
The gender is neuter.
*The infinitive is the verb form given in a German-English dictionary and in the German-English
dictionary at the back of our textbook.
Beispiele:
das Lesen – the reading
The infinitive form of the German verb is lesen.
Das Lesen war sehr schwer.
The reading was very difficult
das Fahren – the driving
The infinitive form of the German verb is fahren.
Vor dem Fahren haben wir gefrühstückt und getankt.
Before the driving, we had breakfast and tanked up.
Here, the gerund is the object of a dative prep.
II. German Simple Past – page 6 in your Mosaik textbook.
English synonyms: simple past, narrative past, preterit, imperfect
German synonyms: Imperfekt, Pretäritum
A. Use:
The German simple past verb tense is used for formal writing about past events and giving
factual accounts. It is the German past tense used for media articles in newspapers, magazines,
and books like novels.
The German simple past tense is also used for formal speeches and formal oral reporting by TV
journalists, storytelling (German fairy tales), student papers (written stories, term papers and
essays, oral reports for history class), and the German resumé (der Lebenslauf).
German simple past is used in formal writing and reporting (accident reports, courtroom
testimony, police reports).
This past tense is called “simple” because only one word is used for this tense in both German
and English.
B. There are two forms of German Pretäritum: 1. Weak
and
2. Strong
1. Simple Past for Weak Verbs
The past participle for German weak verbs ends in the letter -t.
We will look at
a) regular verbs,
b) irregular verbs,
and
regelmäßige Verben unregelmäßige Verben
c) modal verbs.
Modalverben
irregular weak and the irregular modal verbs are also called mixed verbs.
Simple past conjugation of machen
a. Regular verbs like machen and wohnen
ich machte
wir machten
du machtest
ihr machtet
A series of –te endings is added to the verb stem.
er
mach en gemacht
sie
mach is the verb stem
machte
sie/Sie machten
es
b. Irregular weak verbs (page 42) – Notice the vowel change below in the simple past and past
participle
Infinitive
brennen
bringen
denken
haben
kennen
nennen
rennen
wissen
Simple Past
brannte
brachte
dachte
hatte
kannte
nannt
rannte
wusste
Past Participle
gebrannt
gebracht
gedacht
gehabt
gekannt
genannt
ist rerannt
gewusst
English meaning
to burn
to bring
to think
to have
to know a person or place
to name something
to run
to know a fact
Notice that the German simple past form uses the vowel change from the past participle and adds
the series of –te endings.
Simple past conjugation of nennen
ich nannte
wir nannten
du nanntest
ihr nanntet
er
sie
es
Sie nannte ihrem Hund Charlie.
nannte
sie/Sie nannten
c. Modal verbs
Regular:
wollen gewollt
sollen gesollt
Irregular:
dürfen
können
mögen
müssen
durfte
konnte
mochte
musste
simple past conjugation of sollen
gedurft
gekonnt
gemocht
gemusst
Notice that umlauts, if any,
are dropped in the simple
past and also the weak
past participle.
simple past conjugation of müssen
ich sollte
wir sollten
ich musste
wir mussten
du solltest
ihr solltet
du musstest
ihr musstet
er
sie
er
sollte
sie/Sie sollten
es
sie
musste
sie/Sie mussten
es
B. Simple Past for Strong Verbs:
The past participle for German strong verbs ends in the letters –en.
We memorize the simple past form from charts of principal parts of verbs found in GermanEnglish dictionary (online and books).
Irregular verbs are also found in the back of our Mosaik 3 textbook on pages A16 – A28.
The German dictionary Canoo.net on my Moodle page (at the top) will give the German simple
past form of a verb (and all other verb forms, too).
The first person singular (ich) and third person singular (er, sie, es) forms are “naked” because
these verb forms have no ending.
Infinitive
sprechen
Present
Stem Vowel
Change
Past
spricht
sprach
Past Participle
gesprochen
Meaning
to speak
The verbs sprechen and helfen have similar verb forms, including the simple past. As you learn
verbs, you will pick up on the groups with similar forms.
What do you think the above verbs forms are for helfen?
Let’s also take a look at our textbook verb charts.
Simple past conjugation of sprechen
ich sprach
wir sprachen
du sprachst
ihr spracht
er
sie
sprach
sie/Sie sprachen
es
Review: conversational past tense – used for speaking
The other German past tense that we have learned is conversational past tense which is used for
speaking and informal writing such as notes to family, emails, and blogs.
English synonyms: conversational past, perfect, present perfect
German synonyms: Perfekt
The form is the following:
haben or sein conjugated in the present tense + past participle
Beispiele:
Ich habe meiner Mutter Blumen geschenkt.
Ihr seid nach Hause gefahren.
Ich bin das ganze Wochenende zu Hause geblieben.
Wir haben eine Pizza bestellt.
Dein Sohn ist so gross geworden.