gelten — German conjugation

to apply

Frequency#371Irregular

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichgelteI apply
dugiltstyou apply
er/sie/esgilthe/she/it applies
wirgeltenwe apply
ihrgeltetyou (pl.) apply
sie/Siegeltenthey apply

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichgaltI applied
dugaltestyou applied
er/sie/esgalthe/she/it applied
wirgaltenwe applied
ihrgaltetyou (pl.) applied
sie/Siegaltenthey applied

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichhabe gegoltenI have applied
duhast gegoltenyou have applied
er/sie/eshat gegoltenhe/she/it has applied
wirhaben gegoltenwe have applied
ihrhabt gegoltenyou (pl.) have applied
sie/Siehaben gegoltenthey have applied

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichhatte gegoltenI had applied
duhattest gegoltenyou had applied
er/sie/eshatte gegoltenhe/she/it had applied
wirhatten gegoltenwe had applied
ihrhattet gegoltenyou (pl.) had applied
sie/Siehatten gegoltenthey had applied

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichwerde geltenI will apply
duwirst geltenyou will apply
er/sie/eswird geltenhe/she/it will apply
wirwerden geltenwe will apply
ihrwerdet geltenyou (pl.) will apply
sie/Siewerden geltenthey will apply

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichwerde gegolten habenI will have applied
duwirst gegolten habenyou will have applied
er/sie/eswird gegolten habenhe/she/it will have applied
wirwerden gegolten habenwe will have applied
ihrwerdet gegolten habenyou (pl.) will have applied
sie/Siewerden gegolten habenthey will have applied

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?

PronounGerman
ichgälte
dugältest
er/sie/esgälte
wirgälten
ihrgältet
sie/Siegälten

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.

PronounGerman
dugilt
ihrgeltet