{"id":901,"date":"2010-05-27T09:47:14","date_gmt":"2010-05-27T08:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/?p=901"},"modified":"2013-09-29T17:02:37","modified_gmt":"2013-09-29T16:02:37","slug":"the-german-present-tense-and-the-ing-trap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/901\/the-german-present-tense-and-the-ing-trap","title":{"rendered":"German Present Tense and the -ing Trap"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The -ing Trap<\/h2>\n

The German present tense is a pretty self explanatory title. It\u2018s 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:<\/p>\n

I\u2019m at home.
\nHe travels to work by car.
\nI’m playing football.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Things that are happening at the moment<\/h3>\n

He\u2019s eating a steak. \u21e8 Er isst ein Steak.
\nWe\u2018re playing basketball. \u21e8 Wir spielen Basketball.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Things that happen regularly or as a habit:<\/h3>\n

He eats every day a steak. \u21e8 Er isst jeden Tag ein Steak.
\nWe play basketball on Wednesdays. \u21e8 Mittwochs spielen wir Basketball.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The -ing Trap<\/h3>\n

In English, we regularly use the -ing<\/strong> ending. <\/p>\n

For example:<\/strong>
\nI am going<\/strong> on holiday.
\nI am playing<\/strong> football.
\nYou are watching<\/strong> TV. <\/p>\n

This can create a lot of confusion for beginners when using the German present tense.
\nAs you can see from the above examples, the English -ing sentences also use the verb to be<\/strong> (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.<\/p>\n

Example sentences with the -ing trap:<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2018m going on holiday.
\nIch bin in Urlaub gehen. \u21e8 WRONG<\/span><\/strong>
\nIch gehe in Urlaub. \u21e8 CORRECT<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We are playing football.
\nWir sind Fu\u00dfball spielen. \u21e8 WRONG<\/span><\/strong>
\nWir spielen Fu\u00dfball. \u21e8 CORRECT<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

You are reading a book.
\nDu bist ein Buch lesen. \u21e8 WRONG<\/span><\/strong>
\nDu liest ein Buch. \u21e8 CORRECT<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

How to emphasise that something is happening right now?<\/h3>\n

However if you need to emphasise the fact that something is happening right now, the German language uses three alternative ways to do this:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Present tense + an adverb<\/span><\/strong>:<\/li>\n

    For example:<\/strong>
    \nShe\u2019s swimming in the new pool. \u21e8 Sie schwimmt gerade<\/span><\/strong> im neuen Pool.\n<\/ul>\n

      \n
    • The word beim<\/span><\/strong> + an infinitive<\/span><\/strong> being used as noun:<\/li>\n

      For example:<\/strong>
      \nI\u2019m jogging. \u21e8 Ich bin beim<\/span><\/strong> Joggen<\/span><\/strong>.<\/ul>\n

        \n
      • Eben \/ gerade dabei sein zu<\/span><\/strong> (meaning to be in the process of) + an infinitive<\/span><\/strong>:<\/il>\n

        For example:<\/strong>
        \nWe are just bringing the rubbish out. \u21e8 Wir sind gerade dabei<\/span><\/strong>, den M\u00fcll rauszubringen<\/span><\/strong>.<\/ul>\n

        Learn and enjoy the German language with Jabba<\/span><\/strong>lab<\/span><\/strong>! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        The -ing Trap The German present tense is a pretty self explanatory title. It\u2018s 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\u2019m at home. He travels to work by car. I’m playing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15229,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901\/revisions\/15229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}