Overview of Tenses – Free Exercise

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Exercises C1

When do we use each tense? You may only select each tense once.

  1. abgeschlossene Handlung mit Bezug zur Gegenwart: Finished action with a connection to the present → Perfekt (present perfect)
  2. Vermutung, was bereits geschehen ist: Making an assumption about something that has already happened → Futur II (future perfect)
  3. Erzählzeitform für die Vergangenheit: Narrative form for the past → Präteritum (simple past)
  4. Handlungen in der Gegenwart/Zukunft: Present and future events → Präsens (present tense)
  5. Absicht/Vermutung für die Zukunft: Intention/assumption about the future → Futur I (future tense)
  6. Rückblick aus der Vergangenheit auf zuvor Geschehenes: Looking back from a point in the past at something that occurred before → Plusquamperfekt (past perfect)

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb. If no verb is required, choose the dash (-).

  1. Gestern war ein schöner Tag. Die Sonne bei milden 20°C .[Yesterday was a nice day. The sun shone and it was a mild 20°c.]|Narrative past tense → Präteritum (simple past)
  2. Also ich meine Wanderstiefel [So I put on my hiking boots]|Narrative past tense → Präteritum (simple past)
    und in die Berge .[and drove to the mountains.]|Narrative past tense → Präteritum (simple past)
  3. Ich bergauf und bergab , vier Stunden lang.[I hiked up and down the mountains for four hours.]|Narrative past tense → Präteritum (simple past)
  4. Das ich lange nicht mehr .[I hadn’t done that for ages.]|Talking about a past action that occurred prior to another action in the past → Plusquamperfekt (past perfect)
  5. Seit heute Morgen ich dafür starken Muskelkater in den Beinen , jeder Schritt .[That’s why I’ve had sore muscles in my legs since this morning, every step hurts.]|Action that began in the past and is ongoing at the moment of speaking (signal word: seit) → Präsens (present)
  6. Ich es gestern eindeutig .[I obviously overdid it yesterday.]|Finished action with a connection to the present (I have sore muscles now) → Perfekt (present perfect)
  7. Ab jetzt ich täglich ein wenig .[From now on I’m going to train a little bit every day.]|Future intention → Futur I (future)
  8. Bis zur nächsten großen Tour meine Kondition dann hoffentlich .[Hopefully my fitness levels will have improved by the next big hike!]|Assumption about a future goal that will have been achieved by a certain point in the future → Futur II (future perfect)