Werden, Wurden or Würden – The Difference

Werden, Wurden or Würden?
The Difference Explained

As a teacher, I’ve never really been phased by the difference between these three verb forms: werden, wurden and würden. However, sometimes my students are confused and don’t always feel confident in the slight subtleties in pronunciation, conjugation and use. After a bit of thought and research, I’ve created a schema with the aim of helping, as well as a table with each conjugated verb form alongside all subject pronouns. Below, you will also find a .WAV file with how they should sound too, read by a native speaker. 

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How To Pronounce: Werden, Wurden and Würden?

Werden, Wurden or Würden Schema – What’s The Difference?

This download doesn’t contain a watermark and is much better quality than the ‘werden, wurden or würden’ image shown here.

Werden 
Infinitive: To Become
Future Tense Auxiliary: (will + infinitive)
Passive Auxiliary: (present – werden + past participle) and (future – werden + past participle + werden)

Wurden
Imperfect Form: Became
Past Simple Passive Auxiliary: (wurden + past participle)

Würden
Subjunctive II Auxiliary: Would

This morning, when I discussed this with my private A-Level student, I used the following format for the lesson to demystify these three verb forms.

Werden, Wurden or Würden Lesson Outline:

1. Elicit current understanding of difference and pronunciation
2. Agree what they explained correctly and show werden, wurden or würden schema diagram. Ask student to explain what they had missed.
3. Play sound file and ask students to repeat back in order. Test by switching between German and English and visa versa to check correct pronunciation.
4.  Ask for some written / verbal examples in sentences form of each, using topics the student has recently covered.
5. Give students some set sentences that they should translate. These are the ones that I used:
   
   1. The sky became light.  Der Himmel wurde hell. / Der Himmel ist hell geworden.
   2. She got angry. Sie wurde wütend
   3. When I grow up, I’m going to be a lawyer. Wenn ich groß bin, werde ich Rechtsanwalt.
   4. I wouldn’t feed the dog. Ich würde den Hund nicht füttern.
   5. I would like to do a world trip. Ich würde gerne eine Weltreise machen.
   6. You always got interrupted during dinner. Du wurdest ständig beim Abendessen gestört.

Summary:

There are further rules that can be explained for usage, but I find this can be confusing. So, I’ll leave it here for now in the hope that you find the lesson outline, the use of each verb form and their corresponding verb tables useful! If this post on the difference between werden, wurden and würden has helped you, please do leave a comment below. If you have any feedback or think I’ve missed something, please let me know. I only created this werden, wurden and würden schema this morning and have therefore only used it once and have already made a few tweaks!

Did you like this German grammar explanation post? If so, why not take a look at some of my other German teaching and learning posts below?:

German Holidays Intermediate Listening / Reading Lesson
45 German Songs for German Classes

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