abnehmen — German conjugation
to take off
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 | nehme ab | I take off |
| du | nimmst ab | you take off |
| er/sie/es | nimmt ab | he/she/it takes off |
| wir | nehmen ab | we take off |
| ihr | nehmt ab | you (pl.) take off |
| sie/Sie | nehmen 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 | nahm ab | I took off |
| du | nahmst ab | you took off |
| er/sie/es | nahm ab | he/she/it took off |
| wir | nahmen ab | we took off |
| ihr | nahmt ab | you (pl.) took off |
| sie/Sie | nahmen 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 abgenommen | I have taken off |
| du | hast abgenommen | you have taken off |
| er/sie/es | hat abgenommen | he/she/it has taken off |
| wir | haben abgenommen | we have taken off |
| ihr | habt abgenommen | you (pl.) have taken off |
| sie/Sie | haben abgenommen | 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 abgenommen | I had taken off |
| du | hattest abgenommen | you had taken off |
| er/sie/es | hatte abgenommen | he/she/it had taken off |
| wir | hatten abgenommen | we had taken off |
| ihr | hattet abgenommen | you (pl.) had taken off |
| sie/Sie | hatten abgenommen | 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 abnehmen | I will take off |
| du | wirst abnehmen | you will take off |
| er/sie/es | wird abnehmen | he/she/it will take off |
| wir | werden abnehmen | we will take off |
| ihr | werdet abnehmen | you (pl.) will take off |
| sie/Sie | werden abnehmen | 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 abgenommen haben | I will have taken off |
| du | wirst abgenommen haben | you will have taken off |
| er/sie/es | wird abgenommen haben | he/she/it will have taken off |
| wir | werden abgenommen haben | we will have taken off |
| ihr | werdet abgenommen haben | you (pl.) will have taken off |
| sie/Sie | werden abgenommen 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 | nähme ab |
| du | nähmest ab |
| er/sie/es | nähme ab |
| wir | nähmen ab |
| ihr | nähmet ab |
| sie/Sie | nähmen 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 | nimm ab |
| ihr | nehmt ab |