{"id":5440,"date":"2014-09-08T15:10:17","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T15:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=5440"},"modified":"2014-08-28T22:14:20","modified_gmt":"2014-08-28T22:14:20","slug":"german-grammar-in-use-the-conjugation-of-the-verb-kommen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/german-grammar-in-use-the-conjugation-of-the-verb-kommen\/","title":{"rendered":"German grammar in use: The conjugation of the verb \u201ckommen\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The German verb kommen<\/em> is an irregular verb. That is, there is a vowel change when you form its past. The common English translation of kommen<\/em> is \u201cto come\u201d or \u201cto arrive\u201d. But kommen<\/em> is also used in several phrases. Check out the example sentences below to find out how the verb kommen<\/em> is used in German.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pr\u00e4sens \u2013 Present tense<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The Pr\u00e4sens<\/em> is used to talk about the present, the future and about events that started in the past but still continue. When you talk about the future you only have to add a time designation in order to point to a future event. (Ich gehe morgen zum Arzt. \u2013 lit. I see the doctor tomorrow.) When you talk about actions that started in the past but still go on you only have to add the word seit<\/em> (since; for) plus a point in time or time span. (Ich gehe seit drei Jahren zur Universit\u00e4t. \u2013 lit. I go to university for three years. \/ Ich gehe seit 2011 zur Universit\u00e4t. \u2013 lit. I go to university since 2011.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nSingular<\/strong><\/td>\nPlural<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1st<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\nich komme<\/td>\nwir kommen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2nd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ndu kommst \u2013 informal
\nSie kommen \u2013 formal<\/td>\n		ihr kommt \u2013 informal
\nSie kommen \u2013 formal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3rd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ner\/sie\/es kommt<\/td>\nsie kommen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

1. durcheinander kommen \u2013 to get confused
\nIch m\u00f6chte f\u00fcr eine Stunde in Ruhe gelassen werde. Ich mache gerade meine Hausaufgaben. Ich komme durcheinander, wenn du mich dauernd st\u00f6rst.
\n(I would like to be on my own for one hour. I\u2019m doing my homework at the moment. I get confused when you disturb me permanently.)<\/p>\n

2. darauf kommen \u2013 to remember
\nWie war sein Name? Ich komme einfach nicht darauf.
\n(What was his name? I can\u2019t remember it.)<\/p>\n

3. jemandem zugute kommen \u2013 to benefit somebody
\nDie Spenden kommen der Deutschen Krebshilfe zugute.
\n(The donations benefit the German Cancer Aid.)<\/p>\n

4. kommen \u2013 to be on the way
\nIch komme!
\n(I\u2019m on the way!)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Imperativ \u2013 Imperative<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The Imperativ<\/em> is used to give commands, that is, to make somebody do something.<\/p>\n

5. jemanden besuchen kommen \u2013 to come to see somebody
\nKommt uns doch n\u00e4chste Woche besuchen! \u2013 2nd<\/sup> person, plural
\n(Come to see us next week!)<\/p>\n

6. Komm jetzt her! \u2013 2nd<\/sup> person, singular
\n(Come here now!)<\/p>\n

7. Kommen Sie mir blo\u00df nicht auf die unschuldige Tour!
\n(Don\u2019t come the innocent with me!)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pr\u00e4teritum \u2013 Preterit (equals simple past)<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The Pr\u00e4teritum<\/em> equals English simple past. However, the German preterit is not as often used as the English simple past. I have the feeling that Germans avoid using the preterit tense in their speech whenever they have the chance and use the Perfekt<\/em> instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nSingular<\/strong><\/td>\nPlural<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1st<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\nich kam<\/td>\nwir kamen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2nd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ndu kamst \u2013 informal
\nSie kamen \u2013 formal<\/td>\n		ihr kamt \u2013 informal
\nSie kamen \u2013 formal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3rd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ner\/sie\/es kam<\/td>\nsie kamen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

8. rechtzeitig kommen \u2013 to come in time
\nDer Rettungswagen kam rechtzeitig zum Unfallort.
\n(The ambulance came in time to the crash scene.)<\/p>\n

9. ungelegen kommen \u2013 to come at an inconvenient moment
\nMartina und Sara kamen ungelegen. Deswegen habe wir sie nach Hause geschickt.
\n(Martina and Sara came at an inconvenient moment. Therefore, we sent them home.)<\/p>\n

10. vorw\u00e4rts kommen \u2013 to make progress; to get ahead
\nWir haben uns stundenlang \u00fcber diese Frage den Kopf zerbrochen und sind einfach nicht vorw\u00e4rts gekommen.
\n(We racked our brains for hours over that question and didn\u2019t made any progress.)<\/p>\n

11. jemandem kommen die Tr\u00e4nen \u2013 somebody\u2019s eyes well up (with tears)
\nIhm kamen die Tr\u00e4nen als er sein Geschenk auspackte.
\n(His eyes welled up with tears when he unwrapped his present.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Futur I \u2013 Future I<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The Futur I is the only future tense in German. You can use it for the English tenses Future I Simple, Future I Progressive, and the Going-to-Future. Whenever you are not sure how to form a sentence in the future tense you can use the Pr\u00e4sens<\/em> instead (see above).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nSingular<\/strong><\/td>\nPlural<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1st<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\nich werde kommen<\/td>\nwir werden kommen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2nd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ndu wirst kommen \u2013 informal
\nSie werden kommen \u2013 formal<\/td>\n		ihr werdet kommen \u2013 informal
\nSie werden kommen \u2013 formal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3rd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ner\/sie\/es wird kommen<\/td>\nsie werden kommen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

12. ans Licht kommen \u2013 to come to light
\nMan sollte nicht l\u00fcgen. Die Wahrheit wird immer irgendwann ans Licht kommen.
\n(You shouldn\u2019t lie. The truth will always come to light anytime.)<\/p>\n

13. in Betracht kommen \u2013 to come into consideration
\nDiese M\u00f6glichkeit wird nicht in Betracht kommen.
\n(This option won\u2019t come into consideration.)<\/p>\n

14. in Bewegung kommen \u2013 to come into gear
\nDie Dinge werden nach und nach in Bewegung kommen.
\n(Things will come into gear gradually.)<\/p>\n

15. in Form kommen \u2013 to hit form
\nWenn du gen\u00fcgend Sport machst, wirst du bald in Form kommen.
\n(When you exercise enough you will soon hit form.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Perfekt \u2013 Perfect<\/strong><\/h1>\n

In my opinion, the Perfekt<\/em> is the number one \u201cpast\u201d tense of Germans. So if you would like to sound like a genuine German focus on the Perfekt<\/em> rather than on the Pr\u00e4teritum<\/em>. The perfect of kommen<\/em> is formed with the past auxiliary sein<\/em> (to be) plus the past participle gekommen<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nSingular<\/strong><\/td>\nPlural<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1st<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\nich bin gekommen<\/td>\nwir sind gekommen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2nd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ndu bist gekommen \u2013 informal
\nSie sind gekommen \u2013 formal<\/td>\n		ihr seid gekommen \u2013 informal
\nSie sind gekommen \u2013 formal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3rd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ner\/sie\/es ist gekommen<\/td>\nsie sind gekommen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

16. ums Leben kommen \u2013 to lose one\u2019s life
\nDer Feuerwehrmann ist w\u00e4hrend des Rettungsversuchs ums Leben gekommen.
\n(The fireman lost his life during the rescue attempt.)<\/p>\n

17. in Schwierigkeiten kommen \u2013 to get into trouble
\nWir sind in Schwierigkeiten gekommen, nachdem wir beim Spicken erwischt wurden.
\n(We got into trouble after we had been caught cheating.)<\/p>\n

18. von Herzen kommen \u2013 to come from the heart
\nSeine Gl\u00fcckwunsche sind von Herzen gekommen.
\n(His good wishes came from the heart.)<\/p>\n

19. zu nichts kommen \u2013 to come to nothing
\nIch bin gestern zu nichts gekommen.
\n(I came to nothing yesterday.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Plusquamperfekt \u2013 Pluperfect (equals past perfect simple)<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The Plusquamperfekt<\/em> equals past perfect simple. Its formation requires the auxiliary war<\/em> (was) \u2013 which is the past form of sein<\/em> (to be) \u2013 plus the past participle gekommen<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nSingular<\/strong><\/td>\nPlural<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1st<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\nich war gekommen<\/td>\nwir waren gekommen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2nd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ndu warst gekommen \u2013 informal
\nSie waren gekommen \u2013 formal<\/td>\n		ihr wart gekommen \u2013 informal
\nSie waren gekommen \u2013 formal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3rd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ner\/sie\/es war gekommen<\/td>\nsie waren gekommen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

20. hereingeschneit kommen \u2013 to arrive out of the blue
\nAls ich noch bei meinen Eltern wohnte, hatte ich einmal sturmfrei und schmiess eine Party. Noch bevor ich am n\u00e4chsten Tag alle Spuren beseitigen konnte, waren meine Eltern pl\u00f6tzlich hereingeschneit gekommen.
\n(When I lived with my parents I once had the place all to myself and threw a party. Before I could remove all the clues the next day, my parents had suddenly arrived out of the blue.)<\/p>\n

21. (sp\u00e4t) nach Hause kommen \u2013 to come home (late)
\nWir waren gestern Abend erst sp\u00e4t nach Hause gekommen. Deswegen schlafen noch alle.
\n(We came home late last night. Therefore, everybody is still in bed.)<\/p>\n

22. infrage kommen \u2013 to qualify for
\nKeiner der Bewerber war f\u00fcr den Job infrage gekommen.
\n(None of the applicants had been qualified for the job.)<\/p>\n

23. unter Leute kommen \u2013 to socialize
\nSie waren schon lage nicht mehr unter Leute gekommen.
\n(They hadn\u2019t socialized for a long time.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Futur II \u2013 future II<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The Futur II<\/em> is used for the English tenses Future II Simple and Future II Progressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nSingular<\/strong><\/td>\nPlural<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1st<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\nich werde gekommen sein<\/td>\nwir werden gekommen sein<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2nd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ndu wirst gekommen sein \u2013 informal
\nSie werden gekommen sein \u2013 formal<\/td>\n		ihr werdet gekommen sein \u2013 informal
\nSie werden gekommen sein \u2013 formal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3rd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ner\/sie\/es wird gekommen sein<\/td>\nsie werden gekommen sein<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

24. zu Problemen kommen \u2013 to lead to problems
\nEs wird zu Problemen gekommen sein.
\n(It will have lead to problems.)<\/p>\n

25. jemanden zur Hilfe kommen \u2013 to come to somebody\u2019s help
\nSie werden dir zu Hilfe gekommen sein.
\n(They will have come to your help.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The German verb kommen is an irregular verb. That is, there is a vowel change when you form its past. The common English translation of kommen is \u201cto come\u201d or \u201cto arrive\u201d. But kommen is also used in several phrases. Check out the example sentences below to find out how the verb kommen is used…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[11971,8],"tags":[51,95358,177,165],"class_list":["post-5440","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar-language","category-language","tag-conjugation","tag-kommen","tag-tenses","tag-verb"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5440"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9120,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5440\/revisions\/9120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}