aasen — German conjugation

to eat

Frequency#1851Regular

Indicative

Present (Präsens) Regular

Präsens is the default present for facts, habits, and near-future plans. German has no continuous aspect in the same way as English, so a single form often covers both “I work” and “I am working” when you add a time adverb or context.

Ich arbeite heute im Homeoffice.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichaaseI eat
duaastyou eat
er/sie/esaasthe/she/it eats
wiraasenwe eat
ihraastyou (pl.) eat
sie/Sieaasenthey eat

Simple past (Präteritum) Regular

Präteritum is a narrative past, common in print and in northern speech, while southern speakers lean on the perfect in conversation. sein and haben keep their Präteritum even when you otherwise avoid the preterite.

Er war müde, aber er hatte keinen Kaffee mehr.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichaasteI ate
duaastestyou ate
er/sie/esaastehe/she/it ate
wiraastenwe ate
ihraastetyou (pl.) ate
sie/Sieaastenthey ate

Present perfect (Perfekt) Regular

The Perfekt is the everyday past for finished events: auxiliary haben or sein plus participle, with sein for most motion, coming/going, and some change-of-state verbs.

Wir sind rechtzeitig angekommen und haben gefeiert.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichhabe geaastI have eaten
duhast geaastyou have eaten
er/sie/eshat geaasthe/she/it has eaten
wirhaben geaastwe have eaten
ihrhabt geaastyou (pl.) have eaten
sie/Siehaben geaastthey have eaten

Pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt) Regular

The Plusquamperfekt is the pluperfect: it marks what had already completed before a later past episode in the same narrative.

Sie war schon gegangen, bevor er ankam.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichhatte geaastI had eaten
duhattest geaastyou had eaten
er/sie/eshatte geaasthe/she/it had eaten
wirhatten geaastwe had eaten
ihrhattet geaastyou (pl.) had eaten
sie/Siehatten geaastthey had eaten

Future I (Futur I) Regular

Futur I is for predictions, firm promises, and also probability about the present in colloquial German. Everyday speech very often uses Präsens plus a time expression instead.

Morgen schneit es, sagt der Wetterbericht.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichwerde aasenI will eat
duwirst aasenyou will eat
er/sie/eswird aasenhe/she/it will eat
wirwerden aasenwe will eat
ihrwerdet aasenyou (pl.) will eat
sie/Siewerden aasenthey will eat

Future II (Futur II) Regular

Futur II (werden + participle + haben/sein) names an action that will be completed before a later time, and can also express a guess that something must already have happened.

Bis Freitag werde ich alles gepackt haben.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichwerde geaast habenI will have eaten
duwirst geaast habenyou will have eaten
er/sie/eswird geaast habenhe/she/it will have eaten
wirwerden geaast habenwe will have eaten
ihrwerdet geaast habenyou (pl.) will have eaten
sie/Siewerden geaast habenthey will have eaten

Subjunctive

Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) Regular

Konjunktiv II is the mood for politeness, contrary-to-fact if-clauses, and reported views. In speech, würde + infinitive often stands in for rarer preterit-based forms.

Könnten Sie mir bitte helfen?

PronounGerman
ichaaste
duaastest
er/sie/esaaste
wiraasten
ihraastet
sie/Sieaasten

Other forms

Imperative (Imperativ) Regular

The imperative uses the du, ihr, and Sie forms of command; the informal du form drops the -st of the present for many strong verbs, and separable-prefix verbs place the prefix at the end.

Mach bitte schnell, der Zug fährt gleich ab.

PronounGerman
duaase
ihraast