abholen — German conjugation
to pick up
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hole ab | I pick up |
| du | holst ab | you pick up |
| er/sie/es | holt ab | he/she/it picks up |
| wir | holen ab | we pick up |
| ihr | holt ab | you (pl.) pick up |
| sie/Sie | holen ab | they pick up |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | holte ab | I picked up |
| du | holtest ab | you picked up |
| er/sie/es | holte ab | he/she/it picked up |
| wir | holten ab | we picked up |
| ihr | holtet ab | you (pl.) picked up |
| sie/Sie | holten ab | they picked up |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | habe abgeholt | I have picked up |
| du | hast abgeholt | you have picked up |
| er/sie/es | hat abgeholt | he/she/it has picked up |
| wir | haben abgeholt | we have picked up |
| ihr | habt abgeholt | you (pl.) have picked up |
| sie/Sie | haben abgeholt | they have picked up |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hatte abgeholt | I had picked up |
| du | hattest abgeholt | you had picked up |
| er/sie/es | hatte abgeholt | he/she/it had picked up |
| wir | hatten abgeholt | we had picked up |
| ihr | hattet abgeholt | you (pl.) had picked up |
| sie/Sie | hatten abgeholt | they had picked up |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde abholen | I will pick up |
| du | wirst abholen | you will pick up |
| er/sie/es | wird abholen | he/she/it will pick up |
| wir | werden abholen | we will pick up |
| ihr | werdet abholen | you (pl.) will pick up |
| sie/Sie | werden abholen | they will pick up |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde abgeholt haben | I will have picked up |
| du | wirst abgeholt haben | you will have picked up |
| er/sie/es | wird abgeholt haben | he/she/it will have picked up |
| wir | werden abgeholt haben | we will have picked up |
| ihr | werdet abgeholt haben | you (pl.) will have picked up |
| sie/Sie | werden abgeholt haben | they will have picked up |
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?
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| ich | holte ab |
| du | holtest ab |
| er/sie/es | holte ab |
| wir | holten ab |
| ihr | holtet ab |
| sie/Sie | holten ab |
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.
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| du | hole ab |
| ihr | holt ab |