The German tenses
When something happens and how it is seen — finished, in progress, already done before: that is the question every tense answers. Here are all the topics about it, each with its own page and its own exercises.
All 9 topics on tense and time
A1Perfect tense (Perfekt)haben or sein plus a participle at the end — and it is how Germans talk about yesterday.B1Simple past (Präteritum)The past tense of books and reports — plus a handful of verbs that use it in speech.A2The futureGerman usually says the future in the present tense, and keeps werden for prediction and emphasis.B1Past perfect (Plusquamperfekt)hatte or war plus a participle — for what had already happened when something else did.A2What the present tense coversNow, always, tomorrow and since when — all of it in one form.A2haben or sein in the perfectMost verbs take haben; motion and change of state take sein, and a direct object always means haben.A2Saying when: seit, vor, in, fürFour prepositions of time whose English equivalents cross over, plus the tense German uses with each.A2Building the past participleThree patterns, two cases without ge-, and one where it moves inside.B2Future perfect (Futur II)Rarely a future tense; almost always a guess about something already over.
Practise the tenses
Exercises from every topic on tense and time, mixed together. That is exactly the hard part: almost anyone can build a form when it says next to it which one is meant.