eilen — German conjugation

to hurry

Frequency#124Regular

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
icheileI hurry
dueilstyou hurry
er/sie/eseilthe/she/it hurries
wireilenwe hurry
ihreiltyou (pl.) hurry
sie/Sieeilenthey hurry

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
icheilteI hurried
dueiltestyou hurried
er/sie/eseiltehe/she/it hurried
wireiltenwe hurried
ihreiltetyou (pl.) hurried
sie/Sieeiltenthey hurried

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
ichbin geeiltI have hurried
dubist geeiltyou have hurried
er/sie/esist geeilthe/she/it has hurried
wirsind geeiltwe have hurried
ihrseid geeiltyou (pl.) have hurried
sie/Siesind geeiltthey have hurried

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
ichwar geeiltI had hurried
duwarst geeiltyou had hurried
er/sie/eswar geeilthe/she/it had hurried
wirwaren geeiltwe had hurried
ihrwart geeiltyou (pl.) had hurried
sie/Siewaren geeiltthey had hurried

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 eilenI will hurry
duwirst eilenyou will hurry
er/sie/eswird eilenhe/she/it will hurry
wirwerden eilenwe will hurry
ihrwerdet eilenyou (pl.) will hurry
sie/Siewerden eilenthey will hurry

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 geeilt seinI will have hurried
duwirst geeilt seinyou will have hurried
er/sie/eswird geeilt seinhe/she/it will have hurried
wirwerden geeilt seinwe will have hurried
ihrwerdet geeilt seinyou (pl.) will have hurried
sie/Siewerden geeilt seinthey will have hurried

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
icheilte
dueiltest
er/sie/eseilte
wireilten
ihreiltet
sie/Sieeilten

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
dueile
ihreilt