büffeln — German conjugation

to cram

Frequency#1932Regular

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
ichbüffeleI cram
dubüffelstyou cram
er/sie/esbüffelthe/she/it crams
wirbüffelnwe cram
ihrbüffeltyou (pl.) cram
sie/Siebüffelnthey cram

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
ichbüffelteI crammed
dubüffeltestyou crammed
er/sie/esbüffeltehe/she/it crammed
wirbüffeltenwe crammed
ihrbüffeltetyou (pl.) crammed
sie/Siebüffeltenthey crammed

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 gebüffeltI have crammed
duhast gebüffeltyou have crammed
er/sie/eshat gebüffelthe/she/it has crammed
wirhaben gebüffeltwe have crammed
ihrhabt gebüffeltyou (pl.) have crammed
sie/Siehaben gebüffeltthey have crammed

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 gebüffeltI had crammed
duhattest gebüffeltyou had crammed
er/sie/eshatte gebüffelthe/she/it had crammed
wirhatten gebüffeltwe had crammed
ihrhattet gebüffeltyou (pl.) had crammed
sie/Siehatten gebüffeltthey had crammed

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 büffelnI will cram
duwirst büffelnyou will cram
er/sie/eswird büffelnhe/she/it will cram
wirwerden büffelnwe will cram
ihrwerdet büffelnyou (pl.) will cram
sie/Siewerden büffelnthey will cram

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

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
ichbüffelte
dubüffeltest
er/sie/esbüffelte
wirbüffelten
ihrbüffeltet
sie/Siebüffelten

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
dubüffele
ihrbüffelt