fasten — German conjugation

to fast (abstain from food)

Frequency#2674Regular

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
ichfasteI fast
dufastestyou fast
er/sie/esfastethe/she/it fasts
wirfastenwe fast
ihrfastetyou (pl.) fast
sie/Siefastenthey fast

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
ichfasteteI fasted
dufastetestyou fasted
er/sie/esfastetehe/she/it fasted
wirfastetenwe fasted
ihrfastetetyou (pl.) fasted
sie/Siefastetenthey fasted

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 gefastetI have fasted
duhast gefastetyou have fasted
er/sie/eshat gefastethe/she/it has fasted
wirhaben gefastetwe have fasted
ihrhabt gefastetyou (pl.) have fasted
sie/Siehaben gefastetthey have fasted

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 gefastetI had fasted
duhattest gefastetyou had fasted
er/sie/eshatte gefastethe/she/it had fasted
wirhatten gefastetwe had fasted
ihrhattet gefastetyou (pl.) had fasted
sie/Siehatten gefastetthey had fasted

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 fastenI will fast
duwirst fastenyou will fast
er/sie/eswird fastenhe/she/it will fast
wirwerden fastenwe will fast
ihrwerdet fastenyou (pl.) will fast
sie/Siewerden fastenthey will fast

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

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
ichfastete
dufastetest
er/sie/esfastete
wirfasteten
ihrfastetet
sie/Siefasteten

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
dufaste
ihrfastet