anhalten — German conjugation
to stop
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 | halte an | I stop |
| du | hältst an | you stop |
| er/sie/es | hält an | he/she/it stops |
| wir | halten an | we stop |
| ihr | haltet an | you (pl.) stop |
| sie/Sie | halten an | they stop |
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 | hielt an | I stopped |
| du | hieltest an | you stopped |
| er/sie/es | hielt an | he/she/it stopped |
| wir | hielten an | we stopped |
| ihr | hieltet an | you (pl.) stopped |
| sie/Sie | hielten an | they stopped |
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 angehalten | I have stopped |
| du | hast angehalten | you have stopped |
| er/sie/es | hat angehalten | he/she/it has stopped |
| wir | haben angehalten | we have stopped |
| ihr | habt angehalten | you (pl.) have stopped |
| sie/Sie | haben angehalten | they have stopped |
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 angehalten | I had stopped |
| du | hattest angehalten | you had stopped |
| er/sie/es | hatte angehalten | he/she/it had stopped |
| wir | hatten angehalten | we had stopped |
| ihr | hattet angehalten | you (pl.) had stopped |
| sie/Sie | hatten angehalten | they had stopped |
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 anhalten | I will stop |
| du | wirst anhalten | you will stop |
| er/sie/es | wird anhalten | he/she/it will stop |
| wir | werden anhalten | we will stop |
| ihr | werdet anhalten | you (pl.) will stop |
| sie/Sie | werden anhalten | they will stop |
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 angehalten haben | I will have stopped |
| du | wirst angehalten haben | you will have stopped |
| er/sie/es | wird angehalten haben | he/she/it will have stopped |
| wir | werden angehalten haben | we will have stopped |
| ihr | werdet angehalten haben | you (pl.) will have stopped |
| sie/Sie | werden angehalten haben | they will have stopped |
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 | hielte an |
| du | hieltest an |
| er/sie/es | hielte an |
| wir | hielten an |
| ihr | hieltet an |
| sie/Sie | hielten 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 | halte an |
| ihr | haltet an |