bereiten — German conjugation
to prepare, to make
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | bereite | I prepare |
| du | bereitest | you prepare |
| er/sie/es | bereitet | he/she/it prepares |
| wir | bereiten | we prepare |
| ihr | bereitet | you (pl.) prepare |
| sie/Sie | bereiten | they prepare |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | beritt | I prepared |
| du | berittest | you prepared |
| er/sie/es | beritt | he/she/it prepared |
| wir | beritten | we prepared |
| ihr | berittet | you (pl.) prepared |
| sie/Sie | beritten | they prepared |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | habe beritten | I have prepared |
| du | hast beritten | you have prepared |
| er/sie/es | hat beritten | he/she/it has prepared |
| wir | haben beritten | we have prepared |
| ihr | habt beritten | you (pl.) have prepared |
| sie/Sie | haben beritten | they have prepared |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hatte beritten | I had prepared |
| du | hattest beritten | you had prepared |
| er/sie/es | hatte beritten | he/she/it had prepared |
| wir | hatten beritten | we had prepared |
| ihr | hattet beritten | you (pl.) had prepared |
| sie/Sie | hatten beritten | they had prepared |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde bereiten | I will prepare |
| du | wirst bereiten | you will prepare |
| er/sie/es | wird bereiten | he/she/it will prepare |
| wir | werden bereiten | we will prepare |
| ihr | werdet bereiten | you (pl.) will prepare |
| sie/Sie | werden bereiten | they will prepare |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde beritten haben | I will have prepared |
| du | wirst beritten haben | you will have prepared |
| er/sie/es | wird beritten haben | he/she/it will have prepared |
| wir | werden beritten haben | we will have prepared |
| ihr | werdet beritten haben | you (pl.) will have prepared |
| sie/Sie | werden beritten haben | they will have prepared |
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?
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| ich | beritte |
| du | berittest |
| er/sie/es | beritte |
| wir | beritten |
| ihr | berittet |
| sie/Sie | beritten |
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.
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| du | bereite |
| ihr | bereitet |