abheben — German conjugation
to take off (e.g., a plane), to withdraw (money)
Indicative
Present (Präsens) Irregular
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hebe ab | I take off |
| du | hebst ab | you take off |
| er/sie/es | hebt ab | he/she/it takes off |
| wir | heben ab | we take off |
| ihr | hebt ab | you (pl.) take off |
| sie/Sie | heben ab | they take off |
Simple past (Präteritum) Irregular
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hob ab | I took off |
| du | hobst ab | you took off |
| er/sie/es | hob ab | he/she/it took off |
| wir | hoben ab | we took off |
| ihr | hobt ab | you (pl.) took off |
| sie/Sie | hoben ab | they took off |
Present perfect (Perfekt) Irregular
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | habe abgehoben | I have taken off |
| du | hast abgehoben | you have taken off |
| er/sie/es | hat abgehoben | he/she/it has taken off |
| wir | haben abgehoben | we have taken off |
| ihr | habt abgehoben | you (pl.) have taken off |
| sie/Sie | haben abgehoben | they have taken off |
Pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt) Irregular
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hatte abgehoben | I had taken off |
| du | hattest abgehoben | you had taken off |
| er/sie/es | hatte abgehoben | he/she/it had taken off |
| wir | hatten abgehoben | we had taken off |
| ihr | hattet abgehoben | you (pl.) had taken off |
| sie/Sie | hatten abgehoben | they had taken off |
Future I (Futur I) Irregular
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde abheben | I will take off |
| du | wirst abheben | you will take off |
| er/sie/es | wird abheben | he/she/it will take off |
| wir | werden abheben | we will take off |
| ihr | werdet abheben | you (pl.) will take off |
| sie/Sie | werden abheben | they will take off |
Future II (Futur II) Irregular
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde abgehoben haben | I will have taken off |
| du | wirst abgehoben haben | you will have taken off |
| er/sie/es | wird abgehoben haben | he/she/it will have taken off |
| wir | werden abgehoben haben | we will have taken off |
| ihr | werdet abgehoben haben | you (pl.) will have taken off |
| sie/Sie | werden abgehoben haben | they will have taken off |
Subjunctive
Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) Irregular
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?
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| ich | höbe ab |
| du | höbest ab |
| er/sie/es | höbe ab |
| wir | höben ab |
| ihr | höbet ab |
| sie/Sie | höben ab |
Other forms
Imperative (Imperativ) Irregular
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.
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| du | hebe ab |
| ihr | hebt ab |