fortfahren — German conjugation
to continue
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 | fahre fort | I continue |
| du | fährst fort | you continue |
| er/sie/es | fährt fort | he/she/it continues |
| wir | fahren fort | we continue |
| ihr | fahrt fort | you (pl.) continue |
| sie/Sie | fahren fort | they continue |
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 | fuhr fort | I continued |
| du | fuhrst fort | you continued |
| er/sie/es | fuhr fort | he/she/it continued |
| wir | fuhren fort | we continued |
| ihr | fuhrt fort | you (pl.) continued |
| sie/Sie | fuhren fort | they continued |
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 | bin fortgefahren | I have continued |
| du | bist fortgefahren | you have continued |
| er/sie/es | ist fortgefahren | he/she/it has continued |
| wir | sind fortgefahren | we have continued |
| ihr | seid fortgefahren | you (pl.) have continued |
| sie/Sie | sind fortgefahren | they have continued |
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 | war fortgefahren | I had continued |
| du | warst fortgefahren | you had continued |
| er/sie/es | war fortgefahren | he/she/it had continued |
| wir | waren fortgefahren | we had continued |
| ihr | wart fortgefahren | you (pl.) had continued |
| sie/Sie | waren fortgefahren | they had continued |
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 fortfahren | I will continue |
| du | wirst fortfahren | you will continue |
| er/sie/es | wird fortfahren | he/she/it will continue |
| wir | werden fortfahren | we will continue |
| ihr | werdet fortfahren | you (pl.) will continue |
| sie/Sie | werden fortfahren | they will continue |
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 fortgefahren sein | I will have continued |
| du | wirst fortgefahren sein | you will have continued |
| er/sie/es | wird fortgefahren sein | he/she/it will have continued |
| wir | werden fortgefahren sein | we will have continued |
| ihr | werdet fortgefahren sein | you (pl.) will have continued |
| sie/Sie | werden fortgefahren sein | they will have continued |
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 | führe fort |
| du | führest fort |
| er/sie/es | führe fort |
| wir | führen fort |
| ihr | führet fort |
| sie/Sie | führen fort |
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 | fahre fort |
| ihr | fahrt fort |