bremsen — German conjugation

to brake

Frequency#611Regular

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
ichbremseI brake
dubremstyou brake
er/sie/esbremsthe/she/it brakes
wirbremsenwe brake
ihrbremstyou (pl.) brake
sie/Siebremsenthey brake

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
ichbremsteI braked
dubremstestyou braked
er/sie/esbremstehe/she/it braked
wirbremstenwe braked
ihrbremstetyou (pl.) braked
sie/Siebremstenthey braked

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 gebremstI have braked
duhast gebremstyou have braked
er/sie/eshat gebremsthe/she/it has braked
wirhaben gebremstwe have braked
ihrhabt gebremstyou (pl.) have braked
sie/Siehaben gebremstthey have braked

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 gebremstI had braked
duhattest gebremstyou had braked
er/sie/eshatte gebremsthe/she/it had braked
wirhatten gebremstwe had braked
ihrhattet gebremstyou (pl.) had braked
sie/Siehatten gebremstthey had braked

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 bremsenI will brake
duwirst bremsenyou will brake
er/sie/eswird bremsenhe/she/it will brake
wirwerden bremsenwe will brake
ihrwerdet bremsenyou (pl.) will brake
sie/Siewerden bremsenthey will brake

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

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
ichbremste
dubremstest
er/sie/esbremste
wirbremsten
ihrbremstet
sie/Siebremsten

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
dubremse
ihrbremst