donnern — German conjugation

to thunder

Frequency#1490Regular

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
ichdonnereI thunder
dudonnerstyou thunder
er/sie/esdonnerthe/she/it thunders
wirdonnernwe thunder
ihrdonnertyou (pl.) thunder
sie/Siedonnernthey thunder

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
ichdonnerteI thundered
dudonnertestyou thundered
er/sie/esdonnertehe/she/it thundered
wirdonnertenwe thundered
ihrdonnertetyou (pl.) thundered
sie/Siedonnertenthey thundered

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 gedonnertI have thundered
duhast gedonnertyou have thundered
er/sie/eshat gedonnerthe/she/it has thundered
wirhaben gedonnertwe have thundered
ihrhabt gedonnertyou (pl.) have thundered
sie/Siehaben gedonnertthey have thundered

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 gedonnertI had thundered
duhattest gedonnertyou had thundered
er/sie/eshatte gedonnerthe/she/it had thundered
wirhatten gedonnertwe had thundered
ihrhattet gedonnertyou (pl.) had thundered
sie/Siehatten gedonnertthey had thundered

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 donnernI will thunder
duwirst donnernyou will thunder
er/sie/eswird donnernhe/she/it will thunder
wirwerden donnernwe will thunder
ihrwerdet donnernyou (pl.) will thunder
sie/Siewerden donnernthey will thunder

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

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
ichdonnerte
dudonnertest
er/sie/esdonnerte
wirdonnerten
ihrdonnertet
sie/Siedonnerten

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
dudonnere
ihrdonnert