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Gehen - Every Tense, Mood, & Voice


In this week's Wednesday video I conjugated the verb "gehen" in every tense, mood, & voice. Obviously, I left off the passive voice, but some of you might be wondering why. If you want to watch the video, it is embedded below.


Let's get the big question out of the way first. Why did I leave out the passive voice from this video? I didn't think it made any sense to use the verb "gehen" or any other intransitive verb (a verb that can't take a direct object) in the passive voice. Since you can't "go" something or someone, you can't really use it in the passive voice in English. It wouldn't make sense to say "It is being gone by the man." Since it would be grammatical gibberish, I left out the passive voice in all moods and tenses in this video. That being said, Tob ias and Morlewen both commented on this video about the acceptable forms of the passive that can be used with "gehen". Below, I have copied the examples in all of the tenses and moods with the passive that Tob ias wrote. I added translations so you know what is going on in the sentence and I rearranged them so they were in the same order as the other examples.

Sie wird gegangen. - She is being fired. or She is being forced to leave. (present, indicative) Sie wird gegangen werden. - She will be fired. or She will be forced to leave. (future, indicative)

Sie wurde gegangen. - She was fired. or She was forced to leave. (simple past, indicative) Sie ist gegangen worden. - She was fired. or She was forced to leave. (present perfect, indicative)

Sie war gegangen worden. - She had been fired. or She had been forced to leave. (past perfect, indicative) Sie wird gegangen worden sein. - She will have been fired. or She will have been forced to leave. (future perfect, indicative)

Sie werde gegangen. - She is being fired. or She is being forced to leave. (present, subjunctive 1)

Sie werde gegangen werden. - She will be fired. or She will be forced to leave. (future, subjunctive 1)

Sie sei gegangen worden. - She was fired. or She was forced to leave. (past, subjunctive 1)

Sie würde gegangen. - She would be fired. or She would be forced to leave. (present, subjunctive 2)

Sie würde gegangen werden. - She would be fired. or She would be forced to leave (future, subjunctive 2)

Sie wäre gegangen worden. - She would have been fired. or She would have been forced to leave. (past, subjunctive 2)

Now let's try some examples in each of the tenses and moods listed in the video.

Indicative Present Active

Mein Bruder geht oft ins Kino. - My brother goes to the movie theater often.

Meine Schwester geht heute Abend ins Kino. - My sister is going to the movie theater this evening.

Indicative Future Active

Ich werde zur Post gehen. - I will go to the post office.

Wir werden zur Schule gehen. - We will go to school.

Indicative Simple Past Active

Schneewittchen ging in den Wald. - Snow White went into the forest.

Die 7 Zwerge gingen ins Haus. - The 7 dwarves went into the house.

Indicative Present Perfect Active

Ich bin um 3 Uhr nach Hause gegangen. - I went home at 3 o'clock.

Seid ihr schon essen gegangen? - Have you already gone out to eat?

Indicative Past Perfect Active

Wart ihr schon essen gegangen, bevor ihr ins Kino gegangen seid? - Had you already gone to dinner before you went to the movie theater?

Die Schüler waren schon in die Schule gegangen, bevor die Lehrer in den Klassenzimmern waren. - The children had already gone into the school before the teachers were in the classrooms.

Indicative Future Perfect Active

Wir werden essen gegangen sein, bevor wir ins Kino gegangen sein werden. - We will have gone to eat before we will have gone to the the movie theater.

Um 8 Uhr werden die Schüler zur Schule gegangen sein. - At 8 o'clock the students will have gone to school.

Imperative Geh weg von mir! - Go away from me. Geht in die Küche! - Go into the kitchen. Gehen Sie nach Hause! - Go home.

Gehen wir ins Kino! - Let’s go to the movie theater.

Subjunctive I Present Active

Er sagt, er gehe aufs Klo. - He is saying he is going to the bathroom.

Sagt ihr, ihr gehet ins Büro? - Are you saying, you are going into the office?

Subjunctive I Future Active

Er sagt, er werde zur Post gehen. - He says he will go to the post office.

Sagst du, du werdest mit mir ins Kino gehen? - Are you saying, you will go to the movie theater with me?

Subjunctive I Past Active

Er hat gesagt, er sei ins Bett gegangen. - He said, he went to bed.

Die Kinder sagten, sie seien zur Schule gegangen. - The children said, they went to school.

Subjunctive II Present Active

Ich würde fahren, wenn ich nach Hause ginge. - I would drive if I were going home.

Er hat getan als ginge er nach Hause. - He acted as if he were going home.

Subjunctive II Future Active

Ich würde mit dir ins Kino gehen, wenn du schöner wärst. - I would go to the movie theater with you, if you were more beautiful.

Meine Schwester würde niemals mit dir ins Kino gehen. - My sister would never go to the movie theater with you.

Subjunctive II Past Active

Wenn ich gegangen wäre, hätte ich das nicht gemacht. - If I would have gone, I wouldn't have done that.

Wenn er wirklich ins Kino gegangen wäre, hätte er Star Wars gesehen. - If he would have gone to the movie theater, he would have seen Star Wars.

I hope you found this post to be educational and you have a little bit better of a grasp of the German tenses and moods. Next time, I will cover the ever-popular verb "sein" in all of the tense, moods, and voices it can be used.


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