Revision:Compound tenses (German)

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Compound tenses

These tenses are based on the perfect tense.

Pluperfect

The pluperfect tense of the verb is translated "I had played", and is formed in a similar way to the perfect tense. Take the relevant form of the imperfect tense of haben or sein, as required, and the past participle. The same rules for agreement and word order apply as for the perfect tense.

Examples: ich hatte Fußball gespielt; ich war nach Frankreich gefahren.

Conditional perfect

The conditional perfect tense of the verb is translated "I would have played", and is formed in a similar way to the perfect tense. Take the relevant form of the conditional tense of haben or sein, as required, and the past participle. (In fact, Konjunktiv II very often replaces the conditional tense, as the conditional tense can sound clumsy in this structure.) The same rules for agreement and word order apply as for the perfect tense.

Examples: ich hätte Fußball gespielt; ich wäre nach Frankreich gefahren.

Future perfect

The future perfect tense of the verb is translated "I will have played", and is formed in a similar way to the perfect tense. Take the relevant form of the future tense of haben or sein, as required, and the past participle. The same rules for agreement and word order apply as for the perfect tense.

Examples: ich werde Fußball gespielt haben; ich werde nach Frankreich gefahren sein.