German tenses (dialect case study)

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To see how each letter is pronounced in this case study, cf. German dialect case study spelling.

Past

The past tense is formed with the conjugated present tense form of hann or sinn followed by the past participle of the main verb. Please refer to German verbs to see which verbs use the auxiliary "sein".

Examples: es hadds gess = sie hat es gegessen / sie aß es
es iss doo geven = sie ist da gewesen / sie war da

Many people speak a mixture of Rhine Franconian and High German, in which the High German preterit is used for some auxiliaries. Here's the preterit conjugation of sinn as an example:
isch var, duu varsch(d), à/es var, mir vare, ir vare, se vare

Pluperfect

The pluperfect describes actions that happen before another action in past tense, like the past perfect in English. It corresponds to the English past perfect, and it is formed just like the perfect tense, but with the auxiliary in past tense.
Example: es hadds gess gehadd = sie hatte es gegessen

Present / Future

Present tense describes present and future events It is the basic conjugation of all verbs.
Example: es essds = sie isst es / sie wird es essen

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