Reference · module 16
Plans and what will happen
Everything this module explains, on one page.
The present does the future
Talk about tomorrow without learning a new tense.
- German usually says the future in the present tense: Morgen fahre ich nach Berlin. The time word does the work, and the verb stays where it is.
- morgen, übermorgen, nächste Woche, nächstes Jahr, bald, später. One of these in first place and the sentence is already about the future.
- Careful with morgen: alone it means tomorrow, but am Morgen means in the morning. The capital letter is the only difference in writing.
The mistake you are about to make
Morgen werde ich nach Berlin fahren.
Morgen fahre ich nach Berlin.
English cannot say "tomorrow I drive to Berlin" about a plan, so werden feels compulsory. German takes the present whenever a time word is there; werden is for promises.
werden
Use werden when the future really needs saying.
- ich werde, du wirst, er wird, wir werden, ihr werdet, sie werden. The du and er forms are the irregular ones and the ones you hear most.
- As a future, werden takes the second verb to the end: Ich werde dir helfen. Use it for a promise or a prediction, not for a plan.
- On its own, werden means to become: Es wird kalt. Er wird Arzt. That is the meaning you will meet more often in ordinary speech.
The mistake you are about to make
Er wird ein Arzt.
Er wird Arzt.
English needs the article — he is becoming a doctor — so ein tags along. German drops it in front of a job, whether you are one or turning into one.
Making an arrangement
Suggest a time, agree to one, or turn it down politely.
- Hast du am Freitag Zeit? is the opening. Wollen wir ins Kino gehen? is the invitation. Both put the verb first, because both are yes-or-no questions.
- To accept: Gern or Das passt mir gut. To decline: Tut mir leid, ich kann nicht. Leaving out the tut mir leid makes it sound much colder than intended.
The mistake you are about to make
Wollen wir gehen ins Kino?
Wollen wir ins Kino gehen?
"Shall we go to the cinema" keeps go next to where you are going. German sends the infinitive to the end, invitation or not: wollen wir ins Kino gehen?
The weather
Say what the weather is doing and what it will do.
- Weather sentences have no real subject, so German uses es: Es regnet. Es schneit. Es ist kalt. The es cannot be left out.
- die Sonne scheint is the exception with a real subject. Everything else — regnen, schneien, donnern — runs on es alone.
The mistake you are about to make
Es ist regnend.
Es regnet.
English needs the -ing form for something happening right now. German has no such tense: es regnet covers both "it rains" and "it is raining".