anfallen — German conjugation
to attack
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 | falle an | I attack |
| du | fällst an | you attack |
| er/sie/es | fällt an | he/she/it attacks |
| wir | fallen an | we attack |
| ihr | fallt an | you (pl.) attack |
| sie/Sie | fallen an | they attack |
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 | fiel an | I attacked |
| du | fielst an | you attacked |
| er/sie/es | fiel an | he/she/it attacked |
| wir | fielen an | we attacked |
| ihr | fielt an | you (pl.) attacked |
| sie/Sie | fielen an | they attacked |
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 angefallen | I have attacked |
| du | hast angefallen | you have attacked |
| er/sie/es | hat angefallen | he/she/it has attacked |
| wir | haben angefallen | we have attacked |
| ihr | habt angefallen | you (pl.) have attacked |
| sie/Sie | haben angefallen | they have attacked |
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 angefallen | I had attacked |
| du | hattest angefallen | you had attacked |
| er/sie/es | hatte angefallen | he/she/it had attacked |
| wir | hatten angefallen | we had attacked |
| ihr | hattet angefallen | you (pl.) had attacked |
| sie/Sie | hatten angefallen | they had attacked |
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 anfallen | I will attack |
| du | wirst anfallen | you will attack |
| er/sie/es | wird anfallen | he/she/it will attack |
| wir | werden anfallen | we will attack |
| ihr | werdet anfallen | you (pl.) will attack |
| sie/Sie | werden anfallen | they will attack |
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 angefallen haben | I will have attacked |
| du | wirst angefallen haben | you will have attacked |
| er/sie/es | wird angefallen haben | he/she/it will have attacked |
| wir | werden angefallen haben | we will have attacked |
| ihr | werdet angefallen haben | you (pl.) will have attacked |
| sie/Sie | werden angefallen haben | they will have attacked |
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 | fiele an |
| du | fielest an |
| er/sie/es | fiele an |
| wir | fielen an |
| ihr | fielet an |
| sie/Sie | fielen an |
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 | falle an |
| ihr | fallt an |