a German shepherd dog laying on the ground with its tongue out

Activities: "What is the absentive aspect in German?"

By: Babsi Schafer Cabrera
Associated Articles

These activities are part of our German Grammar series. The skills we are practicing here are covered in our article:

Activity 1: Can it be absentive?

Look up the following verbs and sort them based on whether or not they can be used in the absentive aspect.

regnen
tanzen
geben
klettern
brauchen
kochen
schreiben
überlegen
spielen
arbeiten
lieben
aufräumen
hassen
schlafen
staubsaugen
machen
Can be absentive
Cannot be absentive
Hint! Here are the meanings of each of the words above: schlafen(to sleep), regnen(to rain), tanzen(to dance), geben(to give), brauchen(to need), arbeiten(to work), schreiben(to write), kochen(to cook), überlegen(to think about), spielen(to play), aufräumen(to clean up), machen(to make), lieben(to love), staubsaugen(to vacuum), klettern(to climb), hassen(to hate)

Activity 2: Build a sentence!

Create absentive aspect sentences by putting the verbs in the indicated tense! Pay attention to the word order in the sentences.

  • David / sein / Bücher / abgeben / in der Bücherei – present tense

    → .

  • Er / sein / lesen – simple past

    → .

  • Du / noch / arbeiten / sein / ? – present tense

    → ?

  • Ich / sein / Auto fahren / schon – present tense

    → .

  • Tina / sauber machen / sein / wieder – simple past

    → .

  • Viele Kunden / einkaufen / sein – simple past

    → .

  • Die Kinder / schwimmen / sein / am Morgen – simple past

    → .

  • Die Freunde / sein / tanzen / die ganze Nacht – present tense

    → .

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