Werde vs. Würde

It's another verb comparison post! These things come up because most likely I have made numerous mistakes recently with the words, and this is in fact the case for werde and würde.

Short Park-Baby Story

Hello and welcome back! I hope you had a great weekend, I had a first successful time in the park recently with my 4 month old. The last time I tried, she lasted about 10/15 minutes and then I politely and apologetically said to the other mothers that I needed to go. And thankfully my little one felt fine again once we were home. The biggest difference between the two park visits was the stroller for the first time (which she's not the biggest fan of) and the carrying cloth. But enough about babies, let's get back to German!

würde vs. werde

So what is the difference? Both are the verbs in I form. "Ich werde" and "Ich würde". They are both 'related' to doing something in the future, but in different ways. And for today I will talk about them in their ich form. Below is an example.

Ich werde einen Kuchen backen. I will bake a cake.

Ich würde einen Kuchen backen. I would bake a cake.

That's the difference. With the two sentences above, if you are talking to a friend about what they are planning to make for the picnic, you would probably want to hear "Ich werde einen Kuchen bachen." Because that means you are getting a tasty piece of cake. The second answer, you are expecting a "but". "Ich würde einen Kuchen backen, aber ich habe keinen Puderzucker." The second way, might also be presented as a suggestion. Here are a couple of different exchanges.

A: Was machst du für unser Picknick? What are you making for our picnic?

B: Ich werde einen Kuchen backen. I will bake a cake.

-------

A: Was machst du für unser Picknick? What are you making for our picnic?

B: Ich würde einen Kuchen backen, aber ich habe keinen Puderzucker. I would bake a cake, but I don't have powdered sugar.

------

A: Ich weiß nicht, was ich heute für unser Picknick machen soll. Was würdest du vorschlagen? I don't know what I should make for our picnic today. What would you make?

B: Ich würde einen Kuchen backen, weil jeder Kuchen mag. I would bake a cake because everyone likes cake.

And so that's the difference between werde and würde. I remember it now by thinking that it's better to do something (werde) than to maybe do something (würde) and e comes before ü, so werde comes before würde. And that's it for today!

German Exercise for the Week

Übung für würde und werde (Level: A2/B1)
The exercise is A2, but maybe the story is B1. In the story, you will fill out whether you need würde or werde in the text.


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