ablegen — German conjugation

to take off (clothing), to deposit (something)

Frequency#595Regular

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
ichlege abI take off
dulegst abyou take off
er/sie/eslegt abhe/she/it takes off
wirlegen abwe take off
ihrlegt abyou (pl.) take off
sie/Sielegen abthey take off

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
ichlegte abI took off
dulegtest abyou took off
er/sie/eslegte abhe/she/it took off
wirlegten abwe took off
ihrlegtet abyou (pl.) took off
sie/Sielegten abthey took off

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 abgelegtI have taken off
duhast abgelegtyou have taken off
er/sie/eshat abgelegthe/she/it has taken off
wirhaben abgelegtwe have taken off
ihrhabt abgelegtyou (pl.) have taken off
sie/Siehaben abgelegtthey have taken off

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 abgelegtI had taken off
duhattest abgelegtyou had taken off
er/sie/eshatte abgelegthe/she/it had taken off
wirhatten abgelegtwe had taken off
ihrhattet abgelegtyou (pl.) had taken off
sie/Siehatten abgelegtthey had taken off

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 ablegenI will take off
duwirst ablegenyou will take off
er/sie/eswird ablegenhe/she/it will take off
wirwerden ablegenwe will take off
ihrwerdet ablegenyou (pl.) will take off
sie/Siewerden ablegenthey will take off

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 abgelegt habenI will have taken off
duwirst abgelegt habenyou will have taken off
er/sie/eswird abgelegt habenhe/she/it will have taken off
wirwerden abgelegt habenwe will have taken off
ihrwerdet abgelegt habenyou (pl.) will have taken off
sie/Siewerden abgelegt habenthey will have taken off

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
ichlegte ab
dulegtest ab
er/sie/eslegte ab
wirlegten ab
ihrlegtet ab
sie/Sielegten 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.

PronounGerman
dulege ab
ihrlegt ab