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fluentbyear

GERMAN VERB

fernsehen

to watch television

  • #134 most used
  • Strong verb
  • Past participle: ferngesehen

Conjugation

Tap any form to hear it. The part that changes is in colour.

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

  1. ich I watch television
  2. du you watch television
  3. er, sie, es he/she watches television
  4. wir we watch television
  5. ihr you all watch television
  6. sie, Sie they watch television

Simple past

Präteritum · the past of writing, and of sein, haben and the modals in speech

  1. ich I watched television
  2. du you watched television
  3. er, sie, es he/she watched television
  4. wir we watched television
  5. ihr you all watched television
  6. sie, Sie they watched television

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

  1. ich I have watched television
  2. du you have watched television
  3. er, sie, es he/she has watched television
  4. wir we have watched television
  5. ihr you all have watched television
  6. sie, Sie they have watched television

Future

Futur I · “werden”; in speech the present with “morgen” does the job

  1. ich I will watch television
  2. du you will watch television
  3. er, sie, es he/she will watch television
  4. wir we will watch television
  5. ihr you all will watch television
  6. sie, Sie they will watch television

Conditional

Konjunktiv II · “would”: “würde”, and “wäre”, “hätte”, “könnte”

  1. ich I would watch television
  2. du you would watch television
  3. er, sie, es he/she would watch television
  4. wir we would watch television
  5. ihr you all would watch television
  6. sie, Sie they would watch television

Imperative

Imperativ · requests and orders: du, ihr, Sie

  1. du watch television!
  2. ihr watch television! (all of you)
  3. Sie watch television! (formal)

How to use fernsehen

One sentence for each tense, the way people say it.

  1. Present

    Die Kinder sehen abends eine Stunde fern.

    The kids watch TV for an hour in the evening.

  2. Simple past

    Früher sahen wir sonntags immer zusammen fern.

    We used to watch TV together on Sundays.

  3. Perfect

    Ich habe gestern gar nicht ferngesehen.

    I didn't watch any TV yesterday.

  4. Future

    Heute Abend werde ich einfach nur fernsehen.

    Tonight I'm just going to watch TV.

  5. Conditional

    Bei dem Wetter würde ich auch nur fernsehen.

    In this weather I'd also just watch TV.

  6. Imperative

    Sieh nicht so viel fern, geh raus!

    Don't watch so much TV, go outside!

Good to know

  • Fernsehen is the activity; der Fernseher is the TV set.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: strong verb.