Continuously Present

When you start really learning German, you have to try to come to terms with the numerous verb tenses and which times they refer to. There are, similar to English, several tenses for the past (past simple, past perfect, present perfect), there’s a future (I will do that tomorrow) and future perfect (I will have finished this post by tonight). There are also conditional forms to express what may happen or what may have happened. Then there’s the present tense. One thing that English has which German doesn’t is a present continuous tense. In English you say, “I’m wearing jeans and a shirt,” whereas in German you say, “Ich trage eine Jeans und ein T Shirt” (I wear jeans and a shirt)

In English, the present simple is used to describe states and routines. I am from California. I like to write about languages. I brush my teeth every morning. I take the trash out on Thursdays. The present continuous tense is used to describe something that is happening either in the moment of speaking (“What are you doing?”), or at a specific point in the future (“I’m going to the dentist tomorrow.”) In German, the present tense is also used to describe states and routines. Ich komme aus Kalifornien. Ich schreibe gerne über Sprachen. Ich putze jeden Morgen die Zähne. Ich bringe die Müll Donnerstags aus.

As a native speaker of English I found it at first a bit constrictive that I suddenly lost this mode of expression in German, namely, to talk about something that is unequivocally happening in the here and now. The closest thing is the adverb “gerade,” which in English is similar to, “just,” as in I’ve just done something. You can use this, for example if you answer the phone and want to describe what you are doing at the moment, “Ich putze gerade die Zähne,” although it would be pretty awkward if you answered the phone while brushing your teeth. Anyway, the upshot is that in German you are pretty much limited to the present simple to describe something that happens regularly as well as something that is happening in the moment.

But actually the present simple (fachsprachlich: Präsens) is a bit more multi-functional than it may seem at first glance. Similar to English, the present tense can also be used to talk about the future. As previously mentioned, in English it’s the present continuous that refers to the future, not the present simple. For example, you’re going out with a group of people, everyone is in the car and you are just walking out the front door, it is possible to say “Ich komme!” (in English “I’m coming!”) instead of using the future tense “Ich werde kommen!” Obviously it’s a bit easier, as a non-native speaker I am still not so good with the various forms of the auxiliary verb “werden” in the future, and people understand what you mean. It’s also possible to describe my upcoming vacation plans using the present tense, “Ich fliege im November nach Kalifornien,” instead of saying, “Ich werde im November nach Kalifornien fliegen.”

But German takes it just a step further; hold onto your hats because the present tense can even be used to refer to the past! I know, I just blew your mind a little. It is not uncommon to see headlines in newspapers with the present tense. It stands to reason that anything that is in the newspaper is in fact from some point in the past, but as a certain kind of journalistic style tactic to keep news fresh, journalists often use the present tense, “Google präsentiert hervorragende Quartalszahlen,” or “Britischer Minister Fox tritt zurück.” (Google presents excellent quarterly results, British Minister Fox resigns). This play with tenses is also visible in English headlines, “Administration drops provision of health overhaul,” “Italy’s Berlusconi survives confidence vote.”

I recently watched a TV program about the German language. It was a kind of panel discussion punctuated with various quiz questions about grammar, new German writing reforms, comma usage, plural forms and foreign words. Among the topics were the German of the younger generation versus older generations and the instruction of German in schools. At one point a panel member, an older and esteemed anchorman (sidebar: people who read the news in Germany are considered to have a certain poise in their delivery with how they convey information), commented on his opinion of English words or phrases that increasingly find their way into the German language. He expressed that for technological topics it isn’t really that big of a deal. For instance the word, “laptop,” is almost universally used instead of the proposed German equivalent “Klapprechner.” But he feels that sometimes English encroaches beyond the topic of media and technology into realms it need (ought?) not to and gave the example of a store that is under construction and to be opened with a sign hanging in the window that says, “Coming soon.”

I suppose if German had a continuous tense it wouldn’t be necessary to borrow one!