babysitten — German conjugation

to babysit

Frequency#1914Regular

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
ichbabysitteI babysit
dubabysittestyou babysit
er/sie/esbabysittethe/she/it babysits
wirbabysittenwe babysit
ihrbabysittetyou (pl.) babysit
sie/Siebabysittenthey babysit

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
ichbabysitteteI babysat
dubabysittetestyou babysat
er/sie/esbabysittetehe/she/it babysat
wirbabysittetenwe babysat
ihrbabysittetetyou (pl.) babysat
sie/Siebabysittetenthey babysat

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 gebabysittetI have babysat
duhast gebabysittetyou have babysat
er/sie/eshat gebabysittethe/she/it has babysat
wirhaben gebabysittetwe have babysat
ihrhabt gebabysittetyou (pl.) have babysat
sie/Siehaben gebabysittetthey have babysat

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 gebabysittetI had babysat
duhattest gebabysittetyou had babysat
er/sie/eshatte gebabysittethe/she/it had babysat
wirhatten gebabysittetwe had babysat
ihrhattet gebabysittetyou (pl.) had babysat
sie/Siehatten gebabysittetthey had babysat

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 babysittenI will babysit
duwirst babysittenyou will babysit
er/sie/eswird babysittenhe/she/it will babysit
wirwerden babysittenwe will babysit
ihrwerdet babysittenyou (pl.) will babysit
sie/Siewerden babysittenthey will babysit

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

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
ichbabysittete
dubabysittetest
er/sie/esbabysittete
wirbabysitteten
ihrbabysittetet
sie/Siebabysitteten

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
dubabysitte
ihrbabysittet