fortnehmen — German conjugation
to take away
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 | nehme fort | I take away |
| du | nimmst fort | you take away |
| er/sie/es | nimmt fort | he/she/it takes away |
| wir | nehmen fort | we take away |
| ihr | nehmt fort | you (pl.) take away |
| sie/Sie | nehmen fort | they take away |
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 | nahm fort | I took away |
| du | nahmst fort | you took away |
| er/sie/es | nahm fort | he/she/it took away |
| wir | nahmen fort | we took away |
| ihr | nahmt fort | you (pl.) took away |
| sie/Sie | nahmen fort | they took away |
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 fortgenommen | I have taken away |
| du | hast fortgenommen | you have taken away |
| er/sie/es | hat fortgenommen | he/she/it has taken away |
| wir | haben fortgenommen | we have taken away |
| ihr | habt fortgenommen | you (pl.) have taken away |
| sie/Sie | haben fortgenommen | they have taken away |
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 fortgenommen | I had taken away |
| du | hattest fortgenommen | you had taken away |
| er/sie/es | hatte fortgenommen | he/she/it had taken away |
| wir | hatten fortgenommen | we had taken away |
| ihr | hattet fortgenommen | you (pl.) had taken away |
| sie/Sie | hatten fortgenommen | they had taken away |
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 fortnehmen | I will take away |
| du | wirst fortnehmen | you will take away |
| er/sie/es | wird fortnehmen | he/she/it will take away |
| wir | werden fortnehmen | we will take away |
| ihr | werdet fortnehmen | you (pl.) will take away |
| sie/Sie | werden fortnehmen | they will take away |
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 fortgenommen haben | I will have taken away |
| du | wirst fortgenommen haben | you will have taken away |
| er/sie/es | wird fortgenommen haben | he/she/it will have taken away |
| wir | werden fortgenommen haben | we will have taken away |
| ihr | werdet fortgenommen haben | you (pl.) will have taken away |
| sie/Sie | werden fortgenommen haben | they will have taken away |
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 | nähme fort |
| du | nähmest fort |
| er/sie/es | nähme fort |
| wir | nähmen fort |
| ihr | nähmet fort |
| sie/Sie | nähmen 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 | nimm fort |
| ihr | nehmt fort |