beflecken — German conjugation

to stain

Frequency#1067Regular

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
ichbefleckeI stain
dubefleckstyou stain
er/sie/esbefleckthe/she/it stains
wirbefleckenwe stain
ihrbeflecktyou (pl.) stain
sie/Siebefleckenthey stain

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
ichbefleckteI stained
dubeflecktestyou stained
er/sie/esbeflecktehe/she/it stained
wirbeflecktenwe stained
ihrbeflecktetyou (pl.) stained
sie/Siebeflecktenthey stained

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 beflecktI have stained
duhast beflecktyou have stained
er/sie/eshat befleckthe/she/it has stained
wirhaben beflecktwe have stained
ihrhabt beflecktyou (pl.) have stained
sie/Siehaben beflecktthey have stained

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 beflecktI had stained
duhattest beflecktyou had stained
er/sie/eshatte befleckthe/she/it had stained
wirhatten beflecktwe had stained
ihrhattet beflecktyou (pl.) had stained
sie/Siehatten beflecktthey had stained

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 befleckenI will stain
duwirst befleckenyou will stain
er/sie/eswird befleckenhe/she/it will stain
wirwerden befleckenwe will stain
ihrwerdet befleckenyou (pl.) will stain
sie/Siewerden befleckenthey will stain

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

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
ichbefleckte
dubeflecktest
er/sie/esbefleckte
wirbefleckten
ihrbeflecktet
sie/Siebefleckten

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
dubeflecke
ihrbefleckt