- Forum >
- Thema: English >
- "He informed his brother."
13 Kommentare
Präsens: "Er informiert (seinen Bruder)"; Imperfekt: "Er informierte (seinen Bruder)"; Perfekt: "Er hat (seinen Bruder) informiert".
This is the regular building of Imperfekt and Perfekt; like
"er sagt" - "er sagte" - "ich hat gesagt"
"er sucht" - "er suchte" - "er hat gesucht"
and so on (there are many irregular forms)
Präsens is present (Gegenwart); Imperfekt (or Präteritum) is past (Vergangenheit). Perfekt also is past. The meaning of past tense in English and German are not exactly the same, so you can't always say Imperfekt = simple past or so. Normally you use Imperfekt when you write (used in books or letters, for example), and you use Perfekt when you speak. We don't distinguish whether the event happened at a particular time or not, or whether the period has already ended.