fehlen — German conjugation
to be missing
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | fehle | I am missing |
| du | fehlst | you are missing |
| er/sie/es | fehlt | he/she/it is missing |
| wir | fehlen | we are missing |
| ihr | fehlt | you (pl.) are missing |
| sie/Sie | fehlen | they are missing |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | fehlte | I was missing |
| du | fehltest | you were missing |
| er/sie/es | fehlte | he/she/it was missing |
| wir | fehlten | we were missing |
| ihr | fehltet | you (pl.) were missing |
| sie/Sie | fehlten | they were missing |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | habe gefehlt | I have been missing |
| du | hast gefehlt | you have been missing |
| er/sie/es | hat gefehlt | he/she/it has been missing |
| wir | haben gefehlt | we have been missing |
| ihr | habt gefehlt | you (pl.) have been missing |
| sie/Sie | haben gefehlt | they have been missing |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hatte gefehlt | I had been missing |
| du | hattest gefehlt | you had been missing |
| er/sie/es | hatte gefehlt | he/she/it had been missing |
| wir | hatten gefehlt | we had been missing |
| ihr | hattet gefehlt | you (pl.) had been missing |
| sie/Sie | hatten gefehlt | they had been missing |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde fehlen | I will be missing |
| du | wirst fehlen | you will be missing |
| er/sie/es | wird fehlen | he/she/it will be missing |
| wir | werden fehlen | we will be missing |
| ihr | werdet fehlen | you (pl.) will be missing |
| sie/Sie | werden fehlen | they will be missing |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde gefehlt haben | I will have been missing |
| du | wirst gefehlt haben | you will have been missing |
| er/sie/es | wird gefehlt haben | he/she/it will have been missing |
| wir | werden gefehlt haben | we will have been missing |
| ihr | werdet gefehlt haben | you (pl.) will have been missing |
| sie/Sie | werden gefehlt haben | they will have been missing |
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?
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| ich | fehlte |
| du | fehltest |
| er/sie/es | fehlte |
| wir | fehlten |
| ihr | fehltet |
| sie/Sie | fehlten |
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.
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| du | fehle |
| ihr | fehlt |