beklagen — German conjugation

to lament, to complain

Frequency#1613Regular

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
ichbeklageI lament
dubeklagstyou lament
er/sie/esbeklagthe/she/it laments
wirbeklagenwe lament
ihrbeklagtyou (pl.) lament
sie/Siebeklagenthey lament

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
ichbeklagteI lamented
dubeklagtestyou lamented
er/sie/esbeklagtehe/she/it lamented
wirbeklagtenwe lamented
ihrbeklagtetyou (pl.) lamented
sie/Siebeklagtenthey lamented

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 beklagtI have lamented
duhast beklagtyou have lamented
er/sie/eshat beklagthe/she/it has lamented
wirhaben beklagtwe have lamented
ihrhabt beklagtyou (pl.) have lamented
sie/Siehaben beklagtthey have lamented

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 beklagtI had lamented
duhattest beklagtyou had lamented
er/sie/eshatte beklagthe/she/it had lamented
wirhatten beklagtwe had lamented
ihrhattet beklagtyou (pl.) had lamented
sie/Siehatten beklagtthey had lamented

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 beklagenI will lament
duwirst beklagenyou will lament
er/sie/eswird beklagenhe/she/it will lament
wirwerden beklagenwe will lament
ihrwerdet beklagenyou (pl.) will lament
sie/Siewerden beklagenthey will lament

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

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
ichbeklagte
dubeklagtest
er/sie/esbeklagte
wirbeklagten
ihrbeklagtet
sie/Siebeklagten

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
dubeklage
ihrbeklagt