bedürfen — German conjugation

to require

Frequency#98Irregular

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichbedarfI require
dubedarfstyou require
er/sie/esbedarfhe/she/it requires
wirbedürfenwe require
ihrbedürftyou (pl.) require
sie/Siebedürfenthey require

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichbedurfteI required
dubedurftestyou required
er/sie/esbedurftehe/she/it required
wirbedurftenwe required
ihrbedurftetyou (pl.) required
sie/Siebedurftenthey required

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichhabe bedurftI have required
duhast bedurftyou have required
er/sie/eshat bedurfthe/she/it has required
wirhaben bedurftwe have required
ihrhabt bedurftyou (pl.) have required
sie/Siehaben bedurftthey have required

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichhatte bedurftI had required
duhattest bedurftyou had required
er/sie/eshatte bedurfthe/she/it had required
wirhatten bedurftwe had required
ihrhattet bedurftyou (pl.) had required
sie/Siehatten bedurftthey had required

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichwerde bedürfenI will require
duwirst bedürfenyou will require
er/sie/eswird bedürfenhe/she/it will require
wirwerden bedürfenwe will require
ihrwerdet bedürfenyou (pl.) will require
sie/Siewerden bedürfenthey will require

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichwerde bedurft habenI will have required
duwirst bedurft habenyou will have required
er/sie/eswird bedurft habenhe/she/it will have required
wirwerden bedurft habenwe will have required
ihrwerdet bedurft habenyou (pl.) will have required
sie/Siewerden bedurft habenthey will have required

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?

PronounGerman
ichbedürfte
dubedürftest
er/sie/esbedürfte
wirbedürften
ihrbedürftet
sie/Siebedürften

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.

PronounGerman
dubedürfe
ihrbedürft