heimfahren — German conjugation

to drive home

Frequency#2006Irregular

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
ichfahre heimI drive home
dufährst heimyou drive home
er/sie/esfährt heimhe/she/it drives home
wirfahren heimwe drive home
ihrfahrt heimyou (pl.) drive home
sie/Siefahren heimthey drive home

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
ichfuhr heimI drove home
dufuhrst heimyou drove home
er/sie/esfuhr heimhe/she/it drove home
wirfuhren heimwe drove home
ihrfuhrt heimyou (pl.) drove home
sie/Siefuhren heimthey drove home

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
ichbin heimgefahrenI have driven home
dubist heimgefahrenyou have driven home
er/sie/esist heimgefahrenhe/she/it has driven home
wirsind heimgefahrenwe have driven home
ihrseid heimgefahrenyou (pl.) have driven home
sie/Siesind heimgefahrenthey have driven home

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
ichwar heimgefahrenI had driven home
duwarst heimgefahrenyou had driven home
er/sie/eswar heimgefahrenhe/she/it had driven home
wirwaren heimgefahrenwe had driven home
ihrwart heimgefahrenyou (pl.) had driven home
sie/Siewaren heimgefahrenthey had driven home

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 heimfahrenI will drive home
duwirst heimfahrenyou will drive home
er/sie/eswird heimfahrenhe/she/it will drive home
wirwerden heimfahrenwe will drive home
ihrwerdet heimfahrenyou (pl.) will drive home
sie/Siewerden heimfahrenthey will drive home

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 heimgefahren seinI will have driven home
duwirst heimgefahren seinyou will have driven home
er/sie/eswird heimgefahren seinhe/she/it will have driven home
wirwerden heimgefahren seinwe will have driven home
ihrwerdet heimgefahren seinyou (pl.) will have driven home
sie/Siewerden heimgefahren seinthey will have driven home

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
ichführe heim
duführest heim
er/sie/esführe heim
wirführen heim
ihrführet heim
sie/Sieführen heim

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
dufahre heim
ihrfahrt heim