German Tenses - Introduction

How to use German tenses

Introduction
There are six tenses in German: Present, Perfect, Imperfect, Past Perfect, Future I and Future II. Here you will learn when to use these tenses.

Overview of German tenses with verb conjugations

The German language has six tenses: Present, Perfect, Imperfect, Past Perfect, Future I and Future II. Here is an overview of the rules of regular and irregular conjugation of verbs in the different tenses.

Present tense
The present tense is the most used tense in German. We use this tense mainly to speak about the present and the future.
Example:
Ich lerne, I learn
Ich sehe, I see

Past tense / Imperfect
The past tense is used to express facts and doings in the past. We use this tense for narratives and reporting, especially in written language.
Example:
Ich lernte, I learned
Ich sah, I saw

Future Tense I
We use the future tense I mainly to describe an intention for the future or an assumption for the present/future.
Example:
Ich werde lernen, I will learn
Ich werde sehen, I will see

Perfect tense
We use the perfect tense to express that an action was completed in the past, focusing on the result or consequence of the action.
Example:
Ich habe gelernt, I have learned
Ich habe gesehen, I have seen

Past Perfect Tense
We use the past perfect tense when talking about the past (in the past tense) and looking back at something that happened earlier.
Example:
Ich hatte gelernt, I had learned
Ich hatte gesehen, I had seen

Future tense II
The future tense II expresses an assumption that an action will be completed at the time of the expression or at a later time.
Example:
Ich werde gelernt haben, I will have learned
Ich werde gesehen haben, I will have seen