German Future Tense
The German future tense is very similar to the future tense in English. To talk about something in the future, you can use the present tense as you can also do in English.
For example:
Ich fliege im September nach Japan. ⇨ I'm flying to Japan in September.
However there is a dedicated German future tense used to talk about something that will happen in the future. Quite often it is used to emphasise something that will definitely happen at some point.
| Tip |
The German future tense is very similar to the future tense in English which keeps things simple. If you are more confident with the present tense then stick to it as it's very common to use the present tense to express the future. |
Forming the German Future Tense
The German future tense is formed with the present tense form of the German verb
werden. When used on its own in a future tense sentence, it means
to become, however in English we will often say
will become,
will get or
will be instead. Let's have a look at how this verb is formed according to the subject pronoun it's used with.
Table: The verb werden
| Pronoun |
Present Tense of werden |
Meaning |
| ich |
werde |
I become |
| du |
wirst |
you become |
| er / sie / es |
wird |
he / she / it becomes |
| wir |
werden |
we become |
| ihr |
werdet |
you become |
| sie / Sie |
werden |
they / you become |
When you want to talk about doing something in the future, you will need to construct the German future sentence in two parts.
- The first part is with the present tense form of the verb werden.
- The second part is the verb which explains what you will be doing. This verb stays in the infinitive form and goes to the end of the sentence.
Example Sentences:
Im Sommer
werde ich meine Freundin
besuchen. ⇨ I'm going to visit my friend in summer.
Ich
werde fünf Tage in London
verbringen. ⇨ I'll stay five days in London.
Wirst du dieses Jahr Urlaub
machen? ⇨ Are you going on holiday this year?
Note: Unlike in English, there is only one future tense in German. The English future tense
going to which is followed by an infinitive doesn't exist in German. You cannot use the German verb
gehen meaning
to go followed by an infinitive in the same way. You would either use the present tense or the future tense in German.
For example:
It's going to rain.
Es geht regnen. ⇨
WRONG
Es wird regnen. ⇨
CORRECT
Adverbs of Time
Adverbs are words like
slowly,
happily or
now which are usually used in combination with a verb or an adjective. An adverb will give you further information about when, how or in what circumstances something happens. In this module we will be looking at
adverbs of time.
The adverbs that describe time include words like
morgen (tomorrow) and
bald (soon). Here are a few other frequently used adverbs of time:
| da (then) |
jetzt (now) |
oft (often) |
| danach (afterwards) |
lange (long) |
schon (already) |
| dann (then) |
mal (times) |
sofort (immediately) |
| endlich (finally) |
manchmal (sometimes) |
übermorgen (the day after tomorrow) |
| früher (before, formerly) |
meistens (mostly) |
vorbei (to be over) |
| gestern (yesterday) |
morgen (tomorrow) |
vorgestern (the day before yesterday) |
| heute (today) |
nie (never) |
wieder (again) |
| immer (always) |
noch (still) |
(zu)erst (first) |
You can also express days of the week and few other nouns that are related to time as adverbs. You simply add the letter
s to the end of the noun.
For example:
montag
s ⇨ on Mondays
dienstag
s ⇨ on Tuesdays
morgen
s ⇨ in the morning
mittag
s ⇨ at noon
nachmittag
s ⇨ in the afternoon
abend
s ⇨ in the evening
Example Sentences:
Ich arbeite
abends. ⇨ I work in the evening.
Er spielt
nachmittags oft Golf. ⇨ He often plays golf in the afternoon.
Ich spiele
mittwochs Fußball. ⇨ I play football on Wednesdays.
Word Order with Adverbs
In English, adverbs can appear in different places within a sentence.
For example:
Tomorrow is my birthday.
My birthday is
tomorrow.
That's the same in German.
- An adverb (AV) can be placed after the verb (V).
For example:
Wir (S) fliegen (V) heute (AV) nach England. ⇨ We fly to England today.
Wir (S) spielen (V) morgen (AV) Fußball. ⇨ We'll play football tomorrow.
- But this is not fixed. Adverbs can be also placed at the beginning of the sentence. However if you start a German sentence with an adverb (AV) the subject (S) and the verb (V) will swap places.
For example:
Heute (AV) fliegen (V) wir (S) nach England. ⇨ Today we fly to England.
Morgen (AV) spielen (V) wir (S) Fußball. ⇨ Tomorrow we'll play football.
| Note |
If you start a sentence with an adverb of time the subject and the verb will swap places. This rule applies to all adverbs.
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Calendar and Time
