Basic Tenses

The basic Tenses in German are:

• Präsens (Simple present)
  • It describes action in the present or ones that are habitual.
  • z.B. “Ich spiele”
• Präteritum (Imperfekt / Simple past)
  • It describes events that occurred in the past and are complete.
  • z.B. “Ich spielte”
• Perfekt (Present perfekt)
  • It describes events that occurred in the past but focuses on the result of the action.
  • z.B. “Ich habe gespielt”
• Plusquamperfekt
  • Plusquamperfekt is used to denote actions in the past that are completed before another past action.
  • z.B. “Ich hatte das Buch gelesen, bevor ich schlafen ging”.

Plusquamperfekt

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References

1. https://deutsch.lingolia.com/en/grammar/tenses