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German Past Tense 5 – Exercise
In this exercise, we'll practice when to use the spoken past and when to use the preterite in idiomatic German. It's hard, but it's fair and kind of sexy.
you thought we were done with it. You thought we’d left it behind. You thought it was past. But it’s not.
It’s back!!!
With a vengeance. And it’s hell bent on making you suffer…. the German Past Tense. Uh, I mean practice :). We did a laughable, puny work-out session two weeks ago, right after we talked about when to use written past in spoken. But the topic is so important for daily conversation we totally have to do a big work out session for this. And now is the perfect time because we’ve forgotten pretty much everything. It’s this method that we developed here called SRS and it’s based on much, much research. Super scienfitic. So yeah, today we’ll do a HUUUUGE work-out on speaking idiomatic spoken past. Here’s how it works :
I’ll give you a sentence in present tense and you have to put it into the proper past tense. The solutions are right next to the example in the audio, so you also get to train your listening comprehension. And I’ve decided to NOT put the translations right under the sentences, so you ALSO get to train your reading comprehension and your ability to guess from context. So the work-out is basically like doing dead-lifts and crunches at the same time while being on a treadmill :).
If you want to refresh your memory, you can jump to the article about the theory right here:
Oh, and here are the most common irregular verbs that use written past in spoken German
***
finden – fand – gefunden
kommen – kam – gekommen
fallen – fiel – gefallen
gehen – ging – gegangen
sehen- sah – gesehen
stehen – stand – gestanden
liegen – lag – gelegen
denken – dachte – gedacht.
wissen – wusste – gewusst.
werden – wurde – geworden
So, let’s jump right in. Viel Spaß :)
Past Tense Work Out
Put the blue verbsinto the idiomatic past tense (sometimes, two options are possible).
The play button:listen to the solution The green button: shows the solution The “?” button: shows the English translation (I used past tense in the English for the most part) The text field: write down your version if want to compare it to the solution, NOT automatic :)
1.
Ich gehe am Montag ins Ballet.
I’ll go to the ballet on Monday.
Ich bin am Montag ins Ballet gegangen.
2.
“Wie findest du den Film?” “Geht so.”
“How did you like the movie?” “Was okay.”
“Wie fandestdu den Film?” “Ging so.”
3.
Thomaskommtnicht zur Party, weil es ihm nicht so gut geht.
Thomas didn’t come to the party, because he wasn’t feeling very well.
Thomas istnicht zur Party gekommen, weil es ihm nicht so gut ging.
4.
Das Angebotkommtmir irgendwie komischvor.
That offer seemed somehow strange/fishy to me.
Das Angebotkammir irgendwie komischvor.
5.
Mariamag Spinat eigentlich nicht.
Originally, Maria didn’t like spinach.
Mariamochte Spinat eigentlich nicht.
6.
Thomasfindetseine Mitbewohnerin sexy.
Thomas found his flatmate sexy.
Thomasfandseine Mitbewohnerin sexy.
7.
Ich kannmich nicht an seinen Namen erinnern.
I couldn’t remember/think of his name.
Ich konntemich nicht an seinen Namen erinnern.
8.
Maria willwissen, wann Thomas nach Hause kommt.
Maria wanted to know what time Thomas came home.
Maria wolltewissen, wann Thomas nach Hause gekommen ist.
9.
Wie kommst du auf diese Idee?
How did you get that idea?
Wie bist du auf diese Idee gekommen? (“kamst” also works, but is less idiomatic, because it’s the du-form.)
10.
Denkst du, ich putze die Wohnung alleine.
Did you think I’d clean the flat alone?
Dachtest du, ich putze die Wohnung alleine. (“hast du gedacht” also works.).
***
11.
Thomas findet eine Wohnung
Thomas has found an apartment.
Thomas hat eine Wohnung gefunden.
12.
In der Gebrauchsanweisungsteht, dass man das Handy erst mal komplett aufladen muss.
In the user manual it said that you have to fully charge the phone first.
In der Gebrauchsanweisungstand, dass man das Handy erst mal komplett aufladen muss.
13.
Timist sauer, weil er nicht Computer spielen darf.
Tim was angry, because he wasn’t allowed to play computer.
Timwar sauer, weil er nicht Computer spielen durfte.
14.
Kannst du dich bei dem Krach konzentrieren?
Were you able to/could you concentrate with that noise?
Konntest du dich bei dem Krach konzentrieren?
15.
Worum gehtes in der Lektion?
What was this lecture about?
Worum ginges in der Lektion?
16.
Ich weißnicht, wie man das sagt.
I didn’t know how to say that.
Ich wusstenicht, wie man das sagt. (“habe gewusst” is less idiomatic here, but would still work.)
17.
“Wie gefälltdir dein Deutschkurs?” “Ist ok. Die Leute sind nett, aber der Lehrer gehtmir ein bisschen auf die Nerven.”
“How did you like the German course?” “It was okay. The people were nice but the teacher got on my nerves a bit.”
“Wie hatdir dein Deutschkurs gefallen?” “War ok. Die Leute waren nett, aber der Lehrer gingmir ein bisschen auf die Nerven/… ist… gegangen.”
18.
Ichbinvon dem Buch enttäuscht.
I was disappointed by the book.
Ichwarvon dem Buch enttäuscht.
19.
Mariasiehtheute noch besser aus, als sonst.
Maria looked even better than usual today.
Mariasahheute noch besser aus, als sonst.
20.
In der Bar darfman nicht rauchen.
You weren’t allowed to smoke in the bar.
In der Bar durfteman nicht rauchen.
21.
Ich finde den Kuchen viel zu süß.
I found the cake much too sweet.
Ich fand den Kuchen viel zu süß.
22.
Maria ist sehr gestresst, weil sie schnell eine Wohnung finden muss.
Maria was very stressed because she had to find an apartment.
Maria war sehr gestresst, weil sie schnell eine Wohnung finden musste.
23.
Die Katzeist sauer, weil das Kind sie nicht in Ruhe lässt.
The cat was pissed because the child didn’t leave her in peace/alone.
Die Katzewar sauer, weil das Kind sie nicht in Ruhe gelassen hat.
24.
Wir wollen zu dem Konzert gehen, aber dasgeht nicht, weil die Tickets schon ausverkauft sind.
We wanted to go to the concert but it wasn’t possible/didn’t work, because the tickets were already sold out.
Wir wollten zu dem Konzert gehen, aber dasging nicht, weil die Tickets schon ausverkauft waren.
25.
Gibtes in dem Hotel wenigstens eine Sauna?
Was there at least a sauna at the hotel?
Gabes in dem Hotel wenigstens eine Sauna?
26.
Seine ChefingibtThomas einen Spezialauftrag.
His boss gave Thomas a special task.
Seine ChefinhatThomas einen Spezialauftrag gegeben.
***
Whew, half time. Time for a coffee break :)
**
27.
Von der frischen Luft wird Maria wieder wach.
The fresh air made Maria (more) awake again.
Von der frischen Luft wurde Maria wieder wach. (“ist geworden” is less idiomatic)
28.
Weißt du, dass Thomas in einem Film mitspielt?
Did you know that Thomas was playing in a movie?
Wusstest du, dass Thomas in einem Film mitgespielt hat?
29.
Ich weiß, dass ich nichts weiß.
I knew that I knew nothing.
Ich wusste, dass ich nichts wusste. Ich hab gewusst, dass ich nichts wusste.
30.
Ich komme total spät nach Hause, weil ich Überstunden machen muss.
I came home really late, because I had to work overtime/extra hours.
Ich bin total spät nach Hause gekommen, weil ich Überstunden machen musste.
31.
Ich gebemeine Pin dreimal falsch ein.
I entered my pin wrongly three times.
Ich habemeine Pin dreimal falsch eingegeben.
32.
Heutekommtein Paket für dich.
A package came for you today.
istein Paket für dich.gekommen(“kam” also works, but “ist gekommen” is better because the parcel is still there)
33.
“Wobistdu?” “Ich bin auf Klo.
“Where were you?” “I was on the toilet.”
“Wo warstdu?” “Ich war auf Klo.
34.
Ich willunbedingt schwimmen gehen.
I badly wanted to go swimming.
Ich wollteunbedingt schwimmen gehen.
35.
Maria wirdam Dienstag 30.
Maria turned 30 on Tuesday.
Maria wurdeam Dienstag 30. Maria istam Dienstag 30 geworden. (“wurde” also works, but “ist geworden” is more idiomatic because she still is 30)
36.
Ich habe Probleme mit den Artikeln. Ichkannmir nie merken, ob etwas männlich, weiblich oder sächlich ist.
I had problems with the articles. I could never remember if something is masculine, feminine or neuter.
Ich hatte Probleme mit den Artikeln. Ichkonntemir nie merken, ob etwas männlich, weiblich oder sächlich ist.
37.
In dem Film gibtes viele Szenen, wo ich weggucken muss.
In the movie, there were many scene where I had to look away.
In dem Film gabes viele Szenen, wo ich weggucken musste.
38.
Was genau steht in der E-Mail?
What exactly did it say in the email?
Was genau stand in der E-Mail?
39.
Dasistdas erste Mal, dass wir zusammen was trinken gehen.
That was the first time that we went to have a drink together.
Das wardas erste Mal, dass wir zusammen was trinken gegangen sind.
40.
Ich habe überhaupt keine Lust, Hausaufgaben zu machen.
I had no desire to do homework.
Ich hatte überhaupt keine Lust, Hausaufgaben zu machen.
41.
Ich verstehe nicht, warum Maria nicht kommen will.
I didn’t understand why Maria didn’t want to come.
Ich habe nicht verstanden, warum Maria nicht kommen wollte.
42.
Esliegt vor allem an meinem Chef, dass die Stimmung im Büro heute so schlecht ist.
It was mainly my boss’s fault that the mood/atmosphere in the office was so bad today.
Eslag vor allem an meinem Chef, dass die Stimmung im Büro heute so schlecht war.(“hat gelegen” can also work, but “lag” is more idiomatic)
43.
Ich seheeine Sternschnuppe.
I’ve seen a falling star today.
Ich habeeine Sternschnuppe gesehen. (falling star)
44.
Ich magdas Buch nicht besonders.
I didn’t like the book very much.
Ich mochtedas Buch nicht besonders.
45.
Der Lehrer übersiehtden Fehler.
The teacher didn’t see the mistake.
Der Lehrer hatden Fehler übersehen.
46.
Ich willeigentlich heute nichts trinken.
Originally, I didn’t want to drink (alcohol) today.
Ich wollteeigentlich heute nichts trinken.
47.
Marias Suppe sieht aus wie Kotze.
Maria’s soup looked like vomit.
Marias Suppe sah aus wie Kotze.
***
You made it :)
Toll gemacht. How’d you do? Did you get all of them right? Or just some? Or none? Did you have any problems with the word ordering? Are there examples where you’re confused about the past I chose? And did you enjoy doing this? Let me know in the comments and we’ll talk about it and make you a past tense master. I hope you enjoyed this, have a great week and see you next time.
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Those are at the end because they’re in a dependent clause. That’s a sentence that is integrated into another one. Like a “when, that, after ….” sentence in English.
In German, the verbs are all listed at the end in these sentences.
– Ich gehe ins Kino. (main sentence) – Ich sage (main sentence), dass ich (_) ins Kino gehe. (side sentence)
– Ich bin ins Kino gegangen. – Ich habe gesagt, dass ich (_) ins Kino gegangen bin.
Both times, the verb from position two, just goes to the end and kind of lines up there behind whatever is already there.
There are more such examples in the exercise, like the weil-part in 24 for example.
Tanelda
Just finished the test and most my struggles are with “sein” and “haben” usage with differnt verbs. I know the theory, I know when they should be used, but I just struggle with it. I’ve actually been living in Germany for last 4 years or so and my level is around B1+ (by the way, some of the stuff you mentioned is never mentioned in integrational courses, you explain everything so much better ;D) and I stuggle with it greatly. I genuenly do not know what to do with it anymore, in my head it will always be like, if we say “I have come” then it must be “ich habe gekommen” and when I remember that it should be “ich bin gekommen” words have had already left my mouth… Any advice on coping with that?
Do you know Oppenheimer? I guess you do, but do you know the movie or the one famous quote?
– I am become death.
THIS is how we say it in German and he used this old form of Engishg in the quote. You could try to “feel” into this sentence (if English is your mother tongue). It’s a bodily feeling not strong, but you’ll be in a relation towards it with your entire being, not just the brain. It’ll feel odd maybe, a bit ancient, mabye a bit theatrical. You observe yourself and your feeling state, when you say this sentence and then you try to recreate that feeling when you say “Ich bin gegangen” – I am gone”.
The goal is to not think of haben vs sein as a matter of “Oh, I need this grammar” but “Oh, in German, this sentence has this weird feeling”. Maybe that helps your brain react faster.
If you’re not an English native speaker or you’re not famiiar with the Oppenheimer quote at all, then taht’s not going to work though.
Then, you need to drill it. I’ll createe a drill tool for this soon, but you can also just make like 100 or 200 examples, mixed 50:50 haben and sein, and then you go over them flashcard style… so you see English or just the verb gehen and you need to make a past tense sentence, and the important thing is that you do it SPEAKING. Not writing, not thinking. You have to speak the sentence out loud. That’ll get your brain used to without being in a pressure environment.
Since you mentioned elsewhere that your mothertongues are Ukrainian and Russian, the Oppenheimer stuff is probably not going to help much.
In Bulgarian, there is a structure like this:
– Az sam vidijalo.
This kind of means “Ich habe gesehen” but with a clear perfective notion, and it uses the verb to be, not to have. Maybe you have something similar. Basically, the verb to be + the past participle in a sense of having completed an action, but NOT passive voice.
I’ve been speaking English for so long at this point, I kinda think in it sometimes, so Openheimer might do the trick tbh. I’ll also try apeaking out loud a bunch of examples as you suggested, thank you!
Yadhav10
In exercise 27) Von der frischen Luft wird Maria wieder wach.
for present tense can I say it like this also Von der frischen Luft macht Maria mehr wach?
and also why is the meaning of wieder “more” here?
Ich stimme zu, ich vergesse immer sein zu nutzen, weil es so selten verwenden ist. Und Englisch hilft auch nicht! Ich hab deine Übung gemacht mit nur einige Fehler, also hoffentlich sie hilft mir!
Ich kann endlich mein Angst vor Deutsch überwinden. Ich bin seit fast 3 Jahren hier aber hatte immer noch so grosses Angst und nur auf Englisch geredet. Aber lustigerweise nach nur einem Monat mit disem Blog, ich weiss nicht warum aber ich habe einfach kein Angst mehr und fuehle mich so mutig! Vielen vielen Dank!!
Yes, you can use both versions. (I just had to pick one for this exercise format and “wusste” is more common overall)
27) Both work, but “wurde” is more common.
9) Great call!! Actually, both work. The du-forms is more often in spoken past, because the written past may sound a bit stilted (at least with “kommen”).
32) Both work here and clearly I got confused myself as to what the audio was :)
Hope that helps.
Oh and I have added indications now when both versions are possible.
I got most of them right. I did wonder about the seond answer you provided for No. 29 – Ich wusste, dass ich nichts wusste. Ich hab gewusste, dass ich nichts wusste.
I wrote the first version – can hear that there’s something using both types of ‘past’ in the second version – but ‘hab’ gewusste’ surprised me.
i didnt get all of them right and i was so confusedd in some of them like why we didnt use the spoken pasr or in the other one why we didnt use the written one … but it was a relllyy good exercize
these were my mistakes : number 3 – thomas kommt nicht zur party, weil es ihm nicht so gut geht. my answer – thomas kamm nicht zur party, weil es ihm nicht so gut ging ….. WRONG
number 4 – das angebot kommt mir irgendwie komisch vor. my answer – das agebot hat mir irgendwie komisch vorgekommt … WRONG
number 9 – wie kommst du auf diese idee? mine – i couldnt even do it T-T
number 19 – maria sieht heute noch besser aus, als sonst. mine – maria hat heute noch besser ausgesiehen??… then i give up … WRONG
number 33 – heute kommt ein paket fur(fuer?) dich. mine – heute hat ein paket fur(fuer?) dich gekommen … WRONG
number 41 – ich verstehe nicht, warum maria nicht kommen will. mine – didnt do it <3 ..
This works, “ist gekommen” is just more idiomatic.
4)
Should be “kam” because it’s a figurative use of a kommen-verb and those tend to go with preterite. Also “hat vorgekommen” doesn’t work. If you want to use spoken past, then “ist vorgekommen”.
9) You use spoken past “bist gekommen” and then you make that a question. It can trip up your brain, but it’s really straight forward.
19)
Works, “sah aus” is just way more idiomatic. It’s one of those few verbs where you the preterite even in spoken.
33)
“kommen” is about movement and change of location, so this one goes with “sein” as a helper verb.
Well I believe if we follow the rule of “abstract” and “factual”, there will be lots of mistakes. I believe these patterns can be learned with a lot of listening practice. Because I’ve tried to do each one by applying the rule factual or abstract, but there were lots of mistakes.
Yeah, listening practice of course beats a guide like this. The “rule” is really more of a trend and it’s meant to give a rough orientation. Out of curiosity though… could you give me a few examples that you got wrong using the rule?
Geshvad
Hi there,
I had a vocabulary related question,in one of the example i read the word “der Krach” i looked it up and it means noise, What is the difference between der Krach and das Geräusch? Thanks
Hallo Emanuel! First, thank you so much for the exercises, they have been helping me a lot in learning about the past tense.
I have a question. In exercise 16, another alternative could be “Ich habe nicht gewusst, wie man das sagt.”? You said at the beginning that some questions might have more than one answer, but I don’t know if you would put both answers if that were the case.
I only added one of the options, so it’s good you asked.
Your version (“ich habe nicht gewusst,…” ) is also grammatically correct. In this context, the written past is a bit more idiomatic, but I can’t put my finger on why. But don’t worry about it. It’s really a minor difference.
Oh and let me know if you have questions about other numbers here.
sadiebird1
Hey Emanuel! Love the exercise it’s really helped a lot!
One quick question- for one like # 28 where it says “Weißt du, dass Thomas in einem Film mitspielt?“ and changes to “Wusstest du, dass Thomas in einem Film mitgespielt hat?“
Why would the helper verb be at the end? Could it also be “Wusstest du, dass Thomas hat in einem Film mitgespielt“?
No, a “dass”-sentence is integrated into the other one and in these integrated sentences, all verbs are at the end. Subordinate clause is the grammatical term for them.
Most sentences with “intro-words” like “weil, obwohl, bevor, nachdem, der, die….” have this structure, because they’re all integrated.
Vladimir176
“Wie bist du auf diese Idee gekommen?” In this sentence, why do we use spoken past? Isn’t it kind of metaphorical sense of “kommen”? So nobody is walking/going anywhere. My guess is that in German in such sentences, “kommen” is closer to the actual movement: like you came to do this idea. Like “Ich bin aufgewacht” – we use bin because we treat this almost as movement.
Actually, the main reason is that it’s the “du”-version. That one trends more toward spoken past and can sound a bit stilted/theatrical in written past.
For “ich”, I use both versions in daily life:
Ich kam nicht auf den Namen.
Ich bin nicht auf den Namen gekommen.
But yeah, you’re right that my system kind of fails here. It’s just a guide, not a 100% rule.
Hello everyone,
A little confused on #8 and #28. Why are the helping verbs at the end after the past participle?
Those are at the end because they’re in a dependent clause. That’s a sentence that is integrated into another one. Like a “when, that, after ….” sentence in English.
In German, the verbs are all listed at the end in these sentences.
– Ich gehe ins Kino. (main sentence)
– Ich sage (main sentence), dass ich (_) ins Kino gehe. (side sentence)
– Ich bin ins Kino gegangen.
– Ich habe gesagt, dass ich (_) ins Kino gegangen bin.
Both times, the verb from position two, just goes to the end and kind of lines up there behind whatever is already there.
There are more such examples in the exercise, like the weil-part in 24 for example.
Just finished the test and most my struggles are with “sein” and “haben” usage with differnt verbs. I know the theory, I know when they should be used, but I just struggle with it. I’ve actually been living in Germany for last 4 years or so and my level is around B1+ (by the way, some of the stuff you mentioned is never mentioned in integrational courses, you explain everything so much better ;D) and I stuggle with it greatly. I genuenly do not know what to do with it anymore, in my head it will always be like, if we say “I have come” then it must be “ich habe gekommen” and when I remember that it should be “ich bin gekommen” words have had already left my mouth… Any advice on coping with that?
Hmmm tough one.
Do you know Oppenheimer? I guess you do, but do you know the movie or the one famous quote?
– I am become death.
THIS is how we say it in German and he used this old form of Engishg in the quote.
You could try to “feel” into this sentence (if English is your mother tongue). It’s a bodily feeling not strong, but you’ll be in a relation towards it with your entire being, not just the brain. It’ll feel odd maybe, a bit ancient, mabye a bit theatrical.
You observe yourself and your feeling state, when you say this sentence and then you try to recreate that feeling when you say “Ich bin gegangen” – I am gone”.
The goal is to not think of haben vs sein as a matter of “Oh, I need this grammar” but “Oh, in German, this sentence has this weird feeling”.
Maybe that helps your brain react faster.
If you’re not an English native speaker or you’re not famiiar with the Oppenheimer quote at all, then taht’s not going to work though.
Then, you need to drill it. I’ll createe a drill tool for this soon, but you can also just make like 100 or 200 examples, mixed 50:50 haben and sein, and then you go over them flashcard style… so you see English or just the verb gehen and you need to make a past tense sentence, and the important thing is that you do it SPEAKING. Not writing, not thinking. You have to speak the sentence out loud.
That’ll get your brain used to without being in a pressure environment.
Hope that helps a bit.
Since you mentioned elsewhere that your mothertongues are Ukrainian and Russian, the Oppenheimer stuff is probably not going to help much.
In Bulgarian, there is a structure like this:
– Az sam vidijalo.
This kind of means “Ich habe gesehen” but with a clear perfective notion, and it uses the verb to be, not to have. Maybe you have something similar. Basically, the verb to be + the past participle in a sense of having completed an action, but NOT passive voice.
Let me know if you do and if it’s any help.
I’ve been speaking English for so long at this point, I kinda think in it sometimes, so Openheimer might do the trick tbh. I’ll also try apeaking out loud a bunch of examples as you suggested, thank you!
In exercise 27)
Von der frischen Luft wird Maria wieder wach.
for present tense can I say it like this also
Von der frischen Luft macht Maria mehr wach?
and also why is the meaning of wieder “more” here?
wach werden is present tense already. Maria is the subject.
wach machen is also present tense, but then you need a new subject.
– Die frische Luft macht Maria wieder wach.
The more is there because Maria might not have been sleeping, mayzbe she was just drowsy and the air made her more awake again.
Does that help?
I guess so yes,
My head still tries to translate from english so with ‘machen’ is easier.
and the literal translation for
Von der frischen Luft wird Maria wieder wach
is ” From the fresh air becomes Maria more awake”
Am I right?
Yes, exactly! The “von” makes all the difference here.
Ich dachte, dass dieser Unterricht sehr gut war!
Im Prinzip richtig, aber:
– Ich dachte X
This is usually used when it turned out that X is NOT the case. Like here:
– I thought this would be fun but it wasn’t.
If you want to just talk about what your opinion is, you’d use “finden”.
– Ich fand, dass dieser Unterricht gut war.
Freaking awesome ; loved the addition of idiomatic use of liegen an and stehen. Seem really useful. Thanks
Ich vergesse immer sein zu nutzen für perfekt… es is genau selten genug, dass ich immer vergessen :(
Meinst du in der Übung oder generell :)
Ich stimme zu, ich vergesse immer sein zu nutzen, weil es so selten verwenden ist. Und Englisch hilft auch nicht! Ich hab deine Übung gemacht mit nur einige Fehler, also hoffentlich sie hilft mir!
Du musst sie öfter als einmal machen :)
Jawohl
Ich kann endlich mein Angst vor Deutsch überwinden. Ich bin seit fast 3 Jahren hier aber hatte immer noch so grosses Angst und nur auf Englisch geredet. Aber lustigerweise nach nur einem Monat mit disem Blog, ich weiss nicht warum aber ich habe einfach kein Angst mehr und fuehle mich so mutig! Vielen vielen Dank!!
Wow, das ist toll!! Was für ein tolles Feedback, das freut mich wirklich sehr!!
this is such an amazing blog, how could someone even make this?!? this helps a lot with my german, thankss
Thanks a lot for the awesome feedback :)
45 – Warum ist es übersehen und nicht übergesehen?
Because “übersehen” is inseparable.
I’m a bit confused about exercises 16 and 27. Can we use both the spoken past and the written past in these exercises?
Also, I’m wondering why the spoken past was used in exercise 9, even though the meaning seems abstract.
Lastly, for exercise 32, The answer for
number 32 didn’t match the audio.
. Can you please explain which answer is correct?”
16)
Yes, you can use both versions. (I just had to pick one for this exercise format and “wusste” is more common overall)
27)
Both work, but “wurde” is more common.
9) Great call!!
Actually, both work. The du-forms is more often in spoken past, because the written past may sound a bit stilted (at least with “kommen”).
32) Both work here and clearly I got confused myself as to what the audio was :)
Hope that helps.
Oh and I have added indications now when both versions are possible.
Thank you so much
I got most of them right. I did wonder about the seond answer you provided for No. 29 – Ich wusste, dass ich nichts wusste.
Ich hab gewusste, dass ich nichts wusste.
I wrote the first version – can hear that there’s something using both types of ‘past’ in the second version – but ‘hab’ gewusste’ surprised me.
Oh, that’s a typo!! Should be “hab’ gewusst” without the last “e”. Sorry for the confusion.
Thank you – that’s reassuring!
i didnt get all of them right and i was so confusedd in some of them like why we didnt use the spoken pasr or in the other one why we didnt use the written one … but it was a relllyy good exercize
If you need clarification for some, just let me know here in the comments. I’m sure there are some examples that are at least ambiguous.
these were my mistakes :
number 3 – thomas kommt nicht zur party, weil es ihm nicht so gut geht.
my answer – thomas kamm nicht zur party, weil es ihm nicht so gut ging ….. WRONG
number 4 – das angebot kommt mir irgendwie komisch vor.
my answer – das agebot hat mir irgendwie komisch vorgekommt … WRONG
number 9 – wie kommst du auf diese idee?
mine – i couldnt even do it T-T
number 19 – maria sieht heute noch besser aus, als sonst.
mine – maria hat heute noch besser ausgesiehen??… then i give up … WRONG
number 33 – heute kommt ein paket fur(fuer?) dich.
mine – heute hat ein paket fur(fuer?) dich gekommen … WRONG
number 41 – ich verstehe nicht, warum maria nicht kommen will.
mine – didnt do it <3 ..
can you please explain it to me T-T
3)
This works, “ist gekommen” is just more idiomatic.
4)
Should be “kam” because it’s a figurative use of a kommen-verb and those tend to go with preterite.
Also “hat vorgekommen” doesn’t work. If you want to use spoken past, then “ist vorgekommen”.
9) You use spoken past “bist gekommen” and then you make that a question. It can trip up your brain, but it’s really straight forward.
19)
Works, “sah aus” is just way more idiomatic. It’s one of those few verbs where you the preterite even in spoken.
33)
“kommen” is about movement and change of location, so this one goes with “sein” as a helper verb.
41)
Try it!
ohhh thank you so much
i did try to do 41 rn last time i did try but i couldnt figure it out but now i did it right
Ha, there you go :)
Well I believe if we follow the rule of “abstract” and “factual”, there will be lots of mistakes. I believe these patterns can be learned with a lot of listening practice. Because I’ve tried to do each one by applying the rule factual or abstract, but there were lots of mistakes.
Yeah, listening practice of course beats a guide like this. The “rule” is really more of a trend and it’s meant to give a rough orientation.
Out of curiosity though… could you give me a few examples that you got wrong using the rule?
Hi there,
I had a vocabulary related question,in one of the example i read the word “der Krach” i looked it up and it means noise,
What is the difference between der Krach and das Geräusch?
Thanks
“der Krach” is loud noise that’s annoying :).
https://yourdailygerman.com/meaning/krach/
“Geräusch” is more like a generic term for a (non-harmonic) sound and it’s usually not loud.
Thank you.:)
In exercise 1, Why did “ins Ballet” become “in Ballet” – missing the s ?
That was a typo, fixed it. Thank you :)
Hallo Emanuel! First, thank you so much for the exercises, they have been helping me a lot in learning about the past tense.
I have a question. In exercise 16, another alternative could be “Ich habe nicht gewusst, wie man das sagt.”? You said at the beginning that some questions might have more than one answer, but I don’t know if you would put both answers if that were the case.
I only added one of the options, so it’s good you asked.
Your version (“ich habe nicht gewusst,…” ) is also grammatically correct.
In this context, the written past is a bit more idiomatic, but I can’t put my finger on why. But don’t worry about it. It’s really a minor difference.
Oh and let me know if you have questions about other numbers here.
Hey Emanuel! Love the exercise it’s really helped a lot!
One quick question- for one like # 28 where it says “Weißt du, dass Thomas in einem Film mitspielt?“ and changes to
“Wusstest du, dass Thomas in einem Film mitgespielt hat?“
Why would the helper verb be at the end? Could it also be “Wusstest du, dass Thomas hat in einem Film mitgespielt“?
Thanks!
No, a “dass”-sentence is integrated into the other one and in these integrated sentences, all verbs are at the end.
Subordinate clause is the grammatical term for them.
Most sentences with “intro-words” like “weil, obwohl, bevor, nachdem, der, die….” have this structure, because they’re all integrated.
“Wie bist du auf diese Idee gekommen?” In this sentence, why do we use spoken past? Isn’t it kind of metaphorical sense of “kommen”? So nobody is walking/going anywhere. My guess is that in German in such sentences, “kommen” is closer to the actual movement: like you came to do this idea. Like “Ich bin aufgewacht” – we use bin because we treat this almost as movement.
Great question!
Actually, the main reason is that it’s the “du”-version. That one trends more toward spoken past and can sound a bit stilted/theatrical in written past.
For “ich”, I use both versions in daily life:
But yeah, you’re right that my system kind of fails here.
It’s just a guide, not a 100% rule.
Understood, thank you, Emanuel.
Ich weiß nicht, wie man das sagt. *
Emanuel du bist ein besterLehrer auf den Erde und in den Welt❗ Bleib so bitte
please correct my sentence if I have some grammatic mistake :)
Danke für das tolle Feedback :).
Here the sentence with small corrections
“Du bist der beste Lehrer auf der Erde und der Welt.”