beitreten — German conjugation

to join

Frequency#139Irregular

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
ichtrete beiI join
dutrittst beiyou join
er/sie/estritt beihe/she/it joins
wirtreten beiwe join
ihrtretet beiyou (pl.) join
sie/Sietreten beithey join

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
ichtrat beiI joined
dutratest beiyou joined
er/sie/estrat beihe/she/it joined
wirtraten beiwe joined
ihrtratet beiyou (pl.) joined
sie/Sietraten beithey joined

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
ichbin beigetretenI have joined
dubist beigetretenyou have joined
er/sie/esist beigetretenhe/she/it has joined
wirsind beigetretenwe have joined
ihrseid beigetretenyou (pl.) have joined
sie/Siesind beigetretenthey have joined

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
ichwar beigetretenI had joined
duwarst beigetretenyou had joined
er/sie/eswar beigetretenhe/she/it had joined
wirwaren beigetretenwe had joined
ihrwart beigetretenyou (pl.) had joined
sie/Siewaren beigetretenthey had joined

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 beitretenI will join
duwirst beitretenyou will join
er/sie/eswird beitretenhe/she/it will join
wirwerden beitretenwe will join
ihrwerdet beitretenyou (pl.) will join
sie/Siewerden beitretenthey will join

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 beigetreten seinI will have joined
duwirst beigetreten seinyou will have joined
er/sie/eswird beigetreten seinhe/she/it will have joined
wirwerden beigetreten seinwe will have joined
ihrwerdet beigetreten seinyou (pl.) will have joined
sie/Siewerden beigetreten seinthey will have joined

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
ichträte bei
duträtest bei
er/sie/esträte bei
wirträten bei
ihrträtet bei
sie/Sieträten bei

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
dutritt bei
ihrtretet bei