falten — German conjugation

to fold

Frequency#447Regular

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
ichfalteI fold
dufaltestyou fold
er/sie/esfaltethe/she/it folds
wirfaltenwe fold
ihrfaltetyou (pl.) fold
sie/Siefaltenthey fold

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
ichfalteteI folded
dufaltetestyou folded
er/sie/esfaltetehe/she/it folded
wirfaltetenwe folded
ihrfaltetetyou (pl.) folded
sie/Siefaltetenthey folded

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 gefaltetI have folded
duhast gefaltetyou have folded
er/sie/eshat gefaltethe/she/it has folded
wirhaben gefaltetwe have folded
ihrhabt gefaltetyou (pl.) have folded
sie/Siehaben gefaltetthey have folded

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 gefaltetI had folded
duhattest gefaltetyou had folded
er/sie/eshatte gefaltethe/she/it had folded
wirhatten gefaltetwe had folded
ihrhattet gefaltetyou (pl.) had folded
sie/Siehatten gefaltetthey had folded

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 faltenI will fold
duwirst faltenyou will fold
er/sie/eswird faltenhe/she/it will fold
wirwerden faltenwe will fold
ihrwerdet faltenyou (pl.) will fold
sie/Siewerden faltenthey will fold

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

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
ichfaltete
dufaltetest
er/sie/esfaltete
wirfalteten
ihrfaltetet
sie/Siefalteten

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
dufalte
ihrfaltet