Unlike other languages like English, German does not progressive verbs like “to be verbing” in English. In German, you’ll use words like gerade(at the moment) or jetzt(now) to express that something is happening in the moment rather than just happening in general.
Das Mädchen isst gerade ein Stück Kuchen.
The girl is eating a piece of cake.
lit. The girl eats a piece of cake at the moment now.
Ihr Bruder trinkt jetzt eine Tasse heißen Kakao.
Her brother is drinking a cup of hot cocoa.
lit. Her brother drinks a cup of hot cocoa right now.
Additionally, some regional varieties of German have their own ways to express progressivity. We will be looking at all of this in detail in this article. Let‘s get started!
The progressive aspect is used to express that an action is, was, or will be actively in progress at a particular moment.
I eat.
I am eating.
In English, we tend to express the progressive aspect with a special verb form: to be + verb-ing, as in “I am eating.” In German, though, there aren’t any special verb forms for the progressive, so you’ll need to indicate the difference between “I eat” and “I am eating” using other strategies.
The German equivalent of the English “-ing” form, the present participle (Partizip I) is never used to form continuous tenses!
❌Ich bin essend.
lit. I am eating.
✅Ich esse (jetzt).
I am eating (now).
lit. I eat now
To learn about when you should use this form, check out our post on the German present participle.
In order to make it clear that the action is taking place at this very moment, German has a variety of options in its pockets to emphasize that. Let’s have a look!
The most common way to express progressivity in German is to add the adverbNo definition set for adverbLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. gerade, which translates to “at the moment” or “right now.” In regular main clauses, it’s always positioned after the verb and object.
Kannst du mich später anrufen? Ich lerne gerade für meine Prüfung.
Can you call me later? I am studying for my test at the moment.
Jetzt(now) can also be used to say that something is happening at the moment. However, jetzt is not used to express progressivity as often as gerade. The position is the same as above.
Ich habe wirklich keine Zeit. Ich konzentriere mich jetzt auf mein Buch!
I really don’t have time. I am focusing on my book now!
You can use both adverbs together — gerade jetzt or jetzt gerade. This is used when trying to stress the “in the moment” even more.
Gerade jetzt / Jetzt gerade beende ich das Kapitel. Ich rufe dich gleich zurück.
I am finishing up the chapter right now. I’ll call you back shortly.
In German, you can sometimes use a prepositionNo definition set for prepositionLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. like am, beim, or dabei before an infinitive verb to express progressivity. This option is considered to be more colloquial and more accepted in spoken than in written German. Though it originates in the Rhine dialect, it’s become more widespread over the years and can now be heard all over the German speaking world. Here is how to use these prepositions:
am and beim follow the pattern below:
sein
to be
conjugatedNo definition set for conjugatedLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
am / beim
at / on the
infinitive verb
nominalized
Peter hat keine Zeit. Er ist am / beim Arbeiten.
Peter doesn’t have time. He is (in the middle of) working.
In this context, am and beim are completely interchangeable. The closest translation to English would be “to be in the middle of doing something.”
Notice that the infinitive verb you use here is technically a nominalized verb. This means that its first letter should always be capitalized.
✅Er ist am/beim Arbeiten.
❌Er ist am/beim arbeiten.
It also means that when the infinitive verb has an “object,” that object surfaces in German in the genitive case:
Timo ist am/bien Putzen seines Zimmers.
Timo is (in the middle of) cleaning his room.
lit. Timo is at (the) cleaning of his room.
dabei follows a related, but slightly different pattern:
sein
to be
conjugatedNo definition set for conjugatedLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
dabei
zu-infinitive
Peter hat keine Zeit. Er ist dabei zu arbeiten.
Peter doesn’t have time. He is (in the middle of) working.
Timo ist dabei sein Zimmer zu putzen.
Timo is (in the middle of) cleaning his room.
Notice that the meaning and structure are very similar, but because the infinitive is a zu-infinitive instead of a nominalized verb, it can have a true object in the accusative case: sein Zimmer (his room).
If you want to spice it up a little and put more emphasis on the “now,” you can still add gerade(at the moment), jetzt(now) or a combination of both in those sentences.
Peter hat keine Zeit. Er ist gerade am Arbeiten.
Peter doesn’t have time. He is currently working (in the middle of) working.
Timo ist jetzt beim Putzen seines Zimmers.
Timo is cleaning his room right now.
If you want to express that someone is still doing something, you can say this by adding the phrases noch, immer noch, or noch immer. All three translate to the English “still” and are completely interchangeable. They are placed in last position in a sentence.
Paul hat noch keine Zeit. Er arbeitet noch/immer noch/noch immer.
Paul doesn’t have time yet. He is still working.
Timo putzt noch/immer noch/noch immer seinen Schreibtisch.
Timo is still cleaning his desk.
In Southern Germany (especially Bavaria) and the Austrian region, you can also utilize the verb tun(to do) + infinitive of the verb to express progressivity. This way tun basically functions as an auxiliary verbNo definition set for auxiliary verbLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. to create the progressive aspect.
Peter hat keine Zeit. Er tut arbeiten.
Peter doesn’t have time. He is (currently) working.
Timo tut sein Zimmer putzen.
Timo is cleaning his room.
Just like when you use other conjugated auxiliary verbs in German, tun comes in second position while the infinitive of the verb comes last. This is not a nominalized infinitive, so if the sentence has a direct object, the object is in the accusative case, as expected.
This construction, tun(to do) + infinitive, is only used in spoken German and often considered to sound “less educated” and to not be proper German! It is good to recognize it when you hear it, but we would recommend you learn other ways to express progressivity first!
You can use any of the structures above to discuss past, present, or future progressive actions just by changing the tense of the verb. For example:
Tense | Progressive Aspect |
|---|---|
Tina trinkt gerade Kaffee. Tina is drinking coffee. | |
Tina trank gerade Kaffee. Tina was drinking coffee. | |
Tina hat gerade Kaffee getrunken. Tina has been drinking coffee. | |
Tina hatte gerade Kaffee getrunken. Tina had been drinking coffee. | |
Tina wird gerade Kaffee trinken. Tina will be drinking coffee. | |
Tina wird gerade Kaffee getrunken haben. Tina will have been drinking coffee. |
You can also use different tenses with the other structures as well. Here are some examples:
Paul wird heute Abend am Fußballspielen sein.
Paul is going to be playing soccer tonight.
Paul war auch schon gestern Abend beim Fußballspielen.
Paul was also playing soccer last night.
Here are the most important points to remember about the German progressive aspect:
In German, we do not use present participles to form the progressive aspect, so don’t translate “is/are verbing” directly into German!
You’ll use the same verb forms that you use for non-progressive actions, but you’ll add some elements to emphasize that something is in progress:
conjugated verb
gerade / jetzt
sein
am / beim
nominalized infinitive
sein
dabei
zu-infinitive
tun
infinitive
All of these can be conjugated to form past, present, and future progressive sentences.
Are you ready to practice? Head on over to our German progressive aspect activities to test your knowledge about expressing the progressive aspect in German.
