festhalten — German conjugation
to hold on
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | halte fest | I hold on |
| du | hältst fest | you hold on |
| er/sie/es | hält fest | he/she/it holds on |
| wir | halten fest | we hold on |
| ihr | haltet fest | you (pl.) hold on |
| sie/Sie | halten fest | they hold on |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hielt fest | I held on |
| du | hieltest fest | you held on |
| er/sie/es | hielt fest | he/she/it held on |
| wir | hielten fest | we held on |
| ihr | hieltet fest | you (pl.) held on |
| sie/Sie | hielten fest | they held on |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | habe festgehalten | I have held on |
| du | hast festgehalten | you have held on |
| er/sie/es | hat festgehalten | he/she/it has held on |
| wir | haben festgehalten | we have held on |
| ihr | habt festgehalten | you (pl.) have held on |
| sie/Sie | haben festgehalten | they have held on |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hatte festgehalten | I had held on |
| du | hattest festgehalten | you had held on |
| er/sie/es | hatte festgehalten | he/she/it had held on |
| wir | hatten festgehalten | we had held on |
| ihr | hattet festgehalten | you (pl.) had held on |
| sie/Sie | hatten festgehalten | they had held on |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde festhalten | I will hold on |
| du | wirst festhalten | you will hold on |
| er/sie/es | wird festhalten | he/she/it will hold on |
| wir | werden festhalten | we will hold on |
| ihr | werdet festhalten | you (pl.) will hold on |
| sie/Sie | werden festhalten | they will hold on |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde festgehalten haben | I will have held on |
| du | wirst festgehalten haben | you will have held on |
| er/sie/es | wird festgehalten haben | he/she/it will have held on |
| wir | werden festgehalten haben | we will have held on |
| ihr | werdet festgehalten haben | you (pl.) will have held on |
| sie/Sie | werden festgehalten haben | they will have held on |
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?
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| ich | hielte fest |
| du | hieltest fest |
| er/sie/es | hielte fest |
| wir | hielten fest |
| ihr | hieltet fest |
| sie/Sie | hielten fest |
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.
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| du | halte fest |
| ihr | haltet fest |