ereignen — German conjugation

to occur

Frequency#2564Regular

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
ichereigneI occur
duereignestyou occur
er/sie/esereignethe/she/it occurs
wirereignenwe occur
ihrereignetyou (pl.) occur
sie/Sieereignenthey occur

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
ichereigneteI occurred
duereignetestyou occurred
er/sie/esereignetehe/she/it occurred
wirereignetenwe occurred
ihrereignetetyou (pl.) occurred
sie/Sieereignetenthey occurred

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 ereignetI have occurred
duhast ereignetyou have occurred
er/sie/eshat ereignethe/she/it has occurred
wirhaben ereignetwe have occurred
ihrhabt ereignetyou (pl.) have occurred
sie/Siehaben ereignetthey have occurred

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 ereignetI had occurred
duhattest ereignetyou had occurred
er/sie/eshatte ereignethe/she/it had occurred
wirhatten ereignetwe had occurred
ihrhattet ereignetyou (pl.) had occurred
sie/Siehatten ereignetthey had occurred

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 ereignenI will occur
duwirst ereignenyou will occur
er/sie/eswird ereignenhe/she/it will occur
wirwerden ereignenwe will occur
ihrwerdet ereignenyou (pl.) will occur
sie/Siewerden ereignenthey will occur

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

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
ichereignete
duereignetest
er/sie/esereignete
wirereigneten
ihrereignetet
sie/Sieereigneten

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
duereigne
ihrereignet