You’ll use the German Indikativ (indicative mood) more often than any other verb mood in daily conversation and writing, because it helps you express factual statements and ask questions that invoke factual responses.
The Indikativ works alongside the six German tenses to conjugate verbs in a way that clearly signals to your audience that you believe what you say to be true about the past, present, or future. Learn what the Indikativ is used for in daily German life and how to use and identify it in practical situations.
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What do we use the indicative mood for?
We use the Indikativ (indicative mood) in German sentences to communicate that we feel what we’re saying is the truth or how the world currently is, was, or will be.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that what you feel to be true is, in fact, the truth, but it lets your audience know that you believe the information to be true.
In daily German conversation and writing, you’ll use the Indikativ to:
- Tell stories that are presented as true
- Discuss weekend plans
- Introduce yourself and describe others
- Ask and answer questions about factual information
- Shop and order food
- Talk to coworkers about project plans that happened, are happening, or will happen
- Describe your favorite sports, music, foods, and so on
The German moods will give you context and tell you whether the speaker feels the information is factual truth (indicative mood); is not necessarily true, like hypothetical statements (subjunctive mood); or is a command, advice, or a warning (imperative mood). Tenses, on the other hand, explain “when” something occurred.
When you can’t use the German indicative mood
As powerful and wide-spanning as the German indicative mood is within the language, it has its limits. The rule of thumb to follow is that you generally cannot use the indicative mood in German to communicate things that aren’t being presented as your factual truth. For example, you can’t use the indicative for communicating:
- Direct commands
- Advice
- Warnings
- What someone else said
- Hypotheticals
- Suggestions
- Possibility, speculation, or uncertainty
For these situations, you’ll need to use one of the other two German moods: the subjunctive or imperative.
The German subjunctive mood should be your choice for reporting what someone else said or for presenting hypotheticals or possibilities. For direct commands, advice, and warnings, you’ll want to apply the imperative mood in German. Think of it like saying “it’s imperative you do this.”
Which tenses can Indikativ be used in?
Indikativ (indicative) is the most commonly used mood in the German language and can be used in combination with any of the six German tenses, meaning the German present tenses, past tenses, and future tenses.
In doing so, you’re describing that you believe something truly is, was, or will be, depending on the tense used.
- Indikativ Präsens
- Ich schreibe einen Brief. = I write a letter.
- Indikativ Perfekt
- Ich habe gestern Abend einen Brief geschrieben. = I have written a letter yesterday evening.
- Indikativ Präteritum
- Ich schrieb gestern Abend einen Brief. = I wrote a letter yesterday evening.
- Indikativ Plusquamperfekt
- Ich hatte einen Brief geschrieben. = I had written a letter.
- Indikativ Futur I
- Ich werde einen Brief schreiben. = I will write a letter.
- Indikativ Futur II
- Ich werde einen Brief bis morgen geschrieben haben. = I will have written a letter by tomorrow.
Conjugating German verbs in the indicative mood
Every time you conjugate a verb, you’ll change the spelling, often the ending, of the word to agree with the subject and to reflect the tense and mood.
In the Indikativ (indicative mood), there are two main sets of verb conjugations: the present and past tense. What about the future tense? The German future tense simply uses werden, which means “will,” conjugated in the present tense. There are no unique verb spellings in German for the future.
First: Identify your ‘verb stem’
Your first step to conjugating verbs in German is finding your “verb stem.” This is the core, largely unchanging, part of your verb, usually found by removing your chosen verb’s ending. This ending is often either -e or -en, so it’s easy to identify.
Below are a few examples of common German verbs next to their verb stems so you can get an idea of how this looks:
- lernen (to learn) → lern-
- machen (to make) → mach-
- bringen (to bring) → bring-
- sprechen (to speak) → sprech-
German present tense conjugation in the indicative mood
The German present tenses, Präsens (simple present tense) and Perfekt (present perfect tense) in Indikativ (indicative mood) adds a particular set of endings to your verb stem to communicate a factual statement.
Keep in mind that Präsens describes the present moment, while Perfekt conjugates to present tense endings, but is the most common way Germans talk about the past.
The ending you choose for your verb should agree with the subject of your sentence. Endings are chosen based on different pronouns like “he,” “we,” and “they.” Keep in mind, however, that other kinds of verbs like “Timmy,” “the chair,” or “Rosetta Stone” are treated as though they were er/sie/es (he/she/it) instead.
- Wir kommen aus Deutschland. = We come from Germany.
- Ich heiße Natalie Wächter. = My name is Natalie Wächter.
- Was machst du gern? = What do you like to do?
| German Pronoun | Indicative Present Tense Verb Endings | Example with brauchen (to need) |
| ich I | -e | brauche |
| du you (informal singular) | -st | brauchst |
| er/sie/es he/she/it | -t | braucht |
| wir we | -en | brauchen |
| ihr you all (informal plural) | -t | braucht |
| sie/Sie they/you (formal) | -en | brauchen |
Past tense indicative conjugations in German
When describing events that took place before the present, as with Präteritum (simple past tense) and Plusquamperfekt (past perfect tense), you can apply indicative, past tense verb endings to your verb stem.
This clearly communicates that you feel you are describing a factual reality of the past. Think of it like saying “he walked” instead of “he walks.”
German past tense indicative verb endings look quite similar to present tense indicative endings. Generally, you’re just adding a t- or te- to the start of the new verb ending.
- Ich studierte Deutsch. = I studied German.
- Wir wohnten in Berlin. = We lived in Berlin.
- Ihr öffnetet das Fenster. = You all opened the window.
| German Pronoun | Indicative Past Tense Verb Ending | Example Conjugation With lernen (to learn) |
| ich I | -te | lernte |
| du you (informal singular) | -test | lerntest |
| er/sie/es he/she/it | -te | lernte |
| wir we | -ten | lernten |
| ihr you all (informal plural) | -tet | lerntet |
| sie/Sie they/you (formal) | -ten | lernten |
Basic German Indikativ sentence structure
Now that you have your Indikativ (indicative mood) verb squared away, where do you place it in a sentence? Just like in English, German sentence structure follows a subject-verb-object order.
[subject] + [verb, conjugated] + [objects/additional info]
- Er hat Bücher. = He has books.
- Ich lese Deutsch. = I read German.
- Wir brauchen Benzin. = We need gas.
Subordinate clauses add extra information to a main clause. Main clauses can stand on their own, but subordinate clauses cannot stand on their own and have to be added to a main clause to make sense.
[main clause] + [subordinating conjunction] + [subject] + [objects] + [verb, conjugated]
- Ich lerne Deutsch, weil ich in Deutschland arbeite = I am learning German because I work in Germany.
- Er trinkt Kaffee, bevor er zur Schule geht. = He drinks coffee before he goes to school.
- Wir lesen Bücher, obwohl wir keine Zeit haben. = We read books, even though we don’t have time.
Asking yes or no questions with the indicative mood
Asking a question in German to which you’d like a factual answer places the question in the indicative mood. A yes-or-no question is simply a question that requires either “yes” or “no” as a response. To do so, you’ll use the verb-subject-object German sentence structure for questions
- Spielen Sie ein Musikinstrument? = Do you play an instrument?
- Möchtet Ihr Käse? = Do you all want cheese?
Use the indicative mood to ask W-questions
Think of “w-questions” as questions that need an answer that isn’t a simple “yes” or “no.” They use one of the German question words like was (what), wo (where), or wann (when), for example. In the German indicative, you ask these w-questions when you need a factual, detailed answer.
[question word] + [verb, conjugated] + [subject] + [objects]
- Was machst du? = What are you doing?
- Wann haben Sie das fotografiert? = When did you take this photograph?
- Wo trinken Sie Kaffee? = Where do you drink coffee?
Key takeaways about the German indicative
The German Indikativ (indicative mood) has a lot of crossover with the indicative in English to describe real events from the past, present, and future.
- The German indicative mood is used to describe factual reality and ask questions that elicit a factual response.
- Indikativ works across all six German tenses to describe facts and events you feel really occur in the past, present, and future.
- If a sentence isn’t a command, reported speech, or a hypothetical, then it uses the Indikativ.
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