The -ing Trap
The German present tense is a pretty self explanatory title. It‘s used when you want to talk about something that is true at the moment, something that happens on a regular basis and what is happening at the moment. For example:
I’m at home.
He travels to work by car.
I’m playing football.
The English language has two forms to deal with the present tense. One for things happening at the moment and the other for things that happen all the time. However, in German you use one form of the present tense for both of these situations.
Things that are happening at the moment
He’s eating a steak. ⇨ Er isst ein Steak.
We‘re playing basketball. ⇨ Wir spielen Basketball.
Things that happen regularly or as a habit:
He eats every day a steak. ⇨ Er isst jeden Tag ein Steak.
We play basketball on Wednesdays. ⇨ Mittwochs spielen wir Basketball.
The -ing Trap
In English, we regularly use the -ing ending.
For example:
I am going on holiday.
I am playing football.
You are watching TV.
This can create a lot of confusion for beginners when using the German present tense.
As you can see from the above examples, the English -ing sentences also use the verb to be (I am, you are, we are etc). When translating these into German, it’s easy to try and include this in the German sentence too. This of course is wrong and requires a bit of practice not to think this way.
Example sentences with the -ing trap:
I‘m going on holiday.
Ich bin in Urlaub gehen. ⇨ WRONG
Ich gehe in Urlaub. ⇨ CORRECT
We are playing football.
Wir sind Fußball spielen. ⇨ WRONG
Wir spielen Fußball. ⇨ CORRECT
You are reading a book.
Du bist ein Buch lesen. ⇨ WRONG
Du liest ein Buch. ⇨ CORRECT
How to emphasise that something is happening right now?
However if you need to emphasise the fact that something is happening right now, the German language uses three alternative ways to do this:
- Present tense + an adverb:
For example:
She’s swimming in the new pool. ⇨ Sie schwimmt gerade im neuen Pool.
- The word beim + an infinitive being used as noun:
For example:
I’m jogging. ⇨ Ich bin beim Joggen.
- Eben / gerade dabei sein zu (meaning to be in the process of) + an infinitive:
For example:
We are just bringing the rubbish out. ⇨ Wir sind gerade dabei, den Müll rauszubringen.
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