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⏰ Zeitwörter — The Words That Set the Time
⏰ Zeitwörter — The Words That Set the Time
In the German writing exam you score marks by showing you can handle three time frames — past, present and future. The secret is the time marker: one little word (gestern, heute, morgen) tells you and the examiner which time frame you are in. Spot the marker and you already know the tense before you have parsed a single verb.
Die drei Zeitformen — Past, Present, Future
A time marker (das Zeitwort) signals which time frame you are working in. Place it at the start of a sentence for maximum clarity — but remember the verb still comes second.
Earn the mark scheme marks
💡 Exam Tips & Common Errors
- In reading and listening, the time marker tells you the tense before you parse the verb — spot it first.
- In writing, plan one sentence per time frame: one past, one present, one future.
- normalerweise and jeden Tag both signal present habit — equally valid for the present frame.
❌ Common error: Gestern ich war im Kino.
✓ Correct: Gestern war ich im Kino.
Why it costs marks: when a sentence starts with a time marker like gestern, German keeps the verb in second position — so the verb comes BEFORE the subject. Writing Gestern ich war (English word order) is a V2 word-order error that costs AO3 marks.