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Indicative
There
are three possibilities if the sentence contains the verb
werden in the indicative:
(a)
Become
If
the clause contains no other verb, werden is
being used as an independent verb. In this case it means to
become:
| Ach,
wie klein du geworden bist! |
My,
how small you’ve become! [try this on growing
kids] |
| Was
möchtest du einmal werden? |
What
would you like to become one day? |
(b)
Future
If
the clause contains another verb in the infinitive,
werden is being used as an auxiliary to indicate the
future tense. Note that the other verb could be a modal,
or a modal + infinitive (third example), or it could even
be werden itself (see the second example).
| Mehr
und mehr Leute werden Computer kaufen. |
More
and more people will buy computers. |
| Computer
werden immer besser werden. |
Computers
will become better and better. |
| Eines
Tages werden Computer uns Deutsch beibringen
können. |
One
day, computers will be able to teach us German. |
If the sentence contains haben or sein in the
infinitive together with a past participle,
werden is being used as an auxiliary to indicate the
future perfect tense [what will have happened]. Do
not confuse this with option (c) below, where werden
+ a past participle (but no infinitive of haben
or sein) indicates the passive! We don't talk
much about the future perfect tense, but here are two examples:
| Wenn
du ankommst, wird das gute Essen schon verschwunden
sein. |
When
you arrive, the good food will already have
disappeared. |
| Die
anderen werden schon alles gegessen haben. |
The
others will already have eaten everything. |
(c) Passive
If
the clause contains a past participle, werden
is being used to indicate the passive.
| Das
Essen ist in der Kantine gekocht worden.
[perfect tense] |
The
food was cooked in the cafeteria. |
| Dann
wurde es von den Studenten gegessen. [narrative/simple
past] |
Then
it was eaten by the students. |
| Im
Moment wird es verdaut. [present] |
At
the moment it is being digested. |
| Morgen
wird wieder etwas anderes gekocht werden.
[future] |
Tomorrow,
something else will be cooked. |
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Subjunctive
II
All
of the above applies in the same way if werden is in
the subjunctive. By itself, it then means "would become";
with a past participle it indicates the various passive tenses
(now in the subjunctive). To say "would become,"
use würde by itself or würde werden.
Würde + infinitive indicates the present subjunctive
(what someone would do), and so can refer to what someone
would do now or what s/he would do in the future, depending
on the context. Subjunctive forms of werden combined
with past participles indicate subjunctive forms of
the passive voice. We don't emphasize this much in
class and so there will be just one example here, but it should
make sense in principle.
| "Was
würdest du werden, wenn Geld egal wäre?"
-- "Ich würde Touristenführer." |
"What
would you become if money didn't matter?"
-- "I would become a tourist guide." |
| Was
würdest du tun? |
What
would you do? [now or in the future, depending
on the context] |
| "Was
würde passieren, wenn Rodney Dangerfield Präsident
würde?" -- "Er würde
immer noch nicht respektiert werden!" |
"What
would happen if Rodney Dangerfield became
President?" -- "He still wouldn't be respected!"
[Falls [=in case] Sie Rodney Dangerfield nicht kennen:
er sagt immer "Ich bekomme keinen Respekt!"] |
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Conjugation
Tables
| ich
werde |
wir
werden |
| du
wirst |
ihr
werdet |
| er/sie/es
wird |
sie/Sie
werden |
Perfekt
[Perfect Tense/Conversational Past]
| ich
bin geworden |
wir
sind geworden |
| du
bist geworden |
ihr
seid geworden |
| er/sie/es
ist geworden |
sie/Sie
sind geworden |
When "werden" is used to form the passive voice
in the perfect tense, "geworden" is shortened
to "worden":
| Röntgenstrahlen
sind 1895 von Wilhelm Röntgen entdeckt
worden. |
X-rays
were discovered by Wilhelm Röntgen in 1895. |
| Das
Erhaltungsgesetz der Energie ist 1847 von Hermann
Helmholtz offiziell formuliert worden. |
The
principle of energy Hermann Helmholtz officiall |
| Das
erste Auto mit einem Verbrennungsmotor [=internal combustion
engine] ist 1885 von Carl Benz gebaut worden. |
The
first car with an internal combustion engine was built
by Carl Benz in 1885. |
Präteritum
[Narrative Past, Simple Past, Imperfect]
Remember
that this tense does not differ in meaning from the perfect
tense, but is used in more formal writing, whereas the perfect
tense is for more informal conversation.
| ich
wurde |
wir
wurden |
| du
wurdest |
ihr
wurdet |
| er/sie/es
wurde |
sie/Sie
wurden |
Plusquamperfekt
[Past Perfect]
Remember
that this is the tense that is used to emphasize that a past
event had happened before another past event
(and so you don't need it very often). It is formed just like
the Perfekt above, using the Präteritum forms of sein
as an auxiliary verb instead of the present tense of sein:
| ich
war geworden |
wir
waren geworden |
| du
warst geworden |
ihr
wart geworden |
| er/sie/es
war geworden |
sie/Sie
waren geworden |
As
with the perfect tense, when "werden" is
used to form the passive voice in the past perfect tense,
"geworden" is shortened to "worden":
| Im
Jahre 1811, lange bevor man bei ABC die Sendung "The
Mole" sehen konnte, war die Idee des Mols
von dem italienischen Physiker Avogadro formuliert
worden. [Es gibt 6.02 x 1023 Moleküle
in einem Mol von einer Substanz] |
In
the year 1811, log before one could see the show "The
Mole" on ABC, the idea of the mole had been formulated
by the italian physicist Avogadro. [There are 6.02 x 1023
molecules in one mole of a substance.] |
Futur
The
future of any verb is formed by conjugating the verb werden
in the present tense, and leaving the main verb in the infinitive.
When werden is used as an independent verb to mean
"to become," its meaning already implies the future,
so you almost never need to use the future tense of werden,
but for completeness' sake, and also because it becomes useful
in the passive voice, here is how the conjugation of werden
would look like in the future tense:
| ich
werde werden |
wir
werden werden |
| du
wirst werden |
ihr
werdet werden |
| er/sie/es
wird werden |
sie/Sie
werden werden |
In
the passive voice, the above forms of werden are combined
as always with the past participle of the verb to form the
future tense:
| Das
Hubble Teleskop wird noch bis etwa 2010 benutzt
werden. |
The
Hubble telescope will still be used until roughly the
year 2010. |
| Danach
wird es zurück zur Erde gebracht werden. |
After
that it will be brought back to Earth. |
| Es
wird dann im Smithsonian Institute ausgestellt
werden. |
It
will then be exhibited at the Smithsonian Institute.
|
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