erkiesen — German conjugation

to choose

Frequency#121Irregular

Indicative

Present (Präsens) Irregular

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
icherkieseI choose
duerkiestyou choose
er/sie/eserkiesthe/she/it chooses
wirerkiesenwe choose
ihrerkiestyou (pl.) choose
sie/Sieerkiesenthey choose

Simple past (Präteritum) Irregular

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
icherkorI chose
duerkorstyou chose
er/sie/eserkorhe/she/it chose
wirerkorenwe chose
ihrerkortyou (pl.) chose
sie/Sieerkorenthey chose

Present perfect (Perfekt) Irregular

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 erkorenI have chosen
duhast erkorenyou have chosen
er/sie/eshat erkorenhe/she/it has chosen
wirhaben erkorenwe have chosen
ihrhabt erkorenyou (pl.) have chosen
sie/Siehaben erkorenthey have chosen

Pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt) Irregular

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 erkorenI had chosen
duhattest erkorenyou had chosen
er/sie/eshatte erkorenhe/she/it had chosen
wirhatten erkorenwe had chosen
ihrhattet erkorenyou (pl.) had chosen
sie/Siehatten erkorenthey had chosen

Future I (Futur I) Irregular

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 erkiesenI will choose
duwirst erkiesenyou will choose
er/sie/eswird erkiesenhe/she/it will choose
wirwerden erkiesenwe will choose
ihrwerdet erkiesenyou (pl.) will choose
sie/Siewerden erkiesenthey will choose

Future II (Futur II) Irregular

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

Subjunctive

Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) Irregular

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
icherköre
duerkörest
er/sie/eserköre
wirerkören
ihrerköret
sie/Sieerkören

Other forms

Imperative (Imperativ) Irregular

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
duerkiese
ihrerkiest