Tenses and moods
das Tempus
In English: tense
The form of the verb that places an action in time. German has six tenses: Präsens, Perfekt, Präteritum, Plusquamperfekt, Futur I and Futur II. It has no progressive forms: „I read“ and „I am reading“ are both ich lese.
Example: Ich lese. Ich habe gelesen. Ich las. Ich werde lesen.