heimkommen — German conjugation

to come home

Frequency#2009Irregular

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
ichkomme heimI come home
dukommst heimyou come home
er/sie/eskommt heimhe/she/it comes home
wirkommen heimwe come home
ihrkommt heimyou (pl.) come home
sie/Siekommen heimthey come 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
ichkam heimI came home
dukamst heimyou came home
er/sie/eskam heimhe/she/it came home
wirkamen heimwe came home
ihrkamt heimyou (pl.) came home
sie/Siekamen heimthey came 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 heimgekommenI have come home
dubist heimgekommenyou have come home
er/sie/esist heimgekommenhe/she/it has come home
wirsind heimgekommenwe have come home
ihrseid heimgekommenyou (pl.) have come home
sie/Siesind heimgekommenthey have come 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 heimgekommenI had come home
duwarst heimgekommenyou had come home
er/sie/eswar heimgekommenhe/she/it had come home
wirwaren heimgekommenwe had come home
ihrwart heimgekommenyou (pl.) had come home
sie/Siewaren heimgekommenthey had come 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 heimkommenI will come home
duwirst heimkommenyou will come home
er/sie/eswird heimkommenhe/she/it will come home
wirwerden heimkommenwe will come home
ihrwerdet heimkommenyou (pl.) will come home
sie/Siewerden heimkommenthey will come 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 heimgekommen seinI will have come home
duwirst heimgekommen seinyou will have come home
er/sie/eswird heimgekommen seinhe/she/it will have come home
wirwerden heimgekommen seinwe will have come home
ihrwerdet heimgekommen seinyou (pl.) will have come home
sie/Siewerden heimgekommen seinthey will have come 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
ichkäme heim
dukämest heim
er/sie/eskäme heim
wirkämen heim
ihrkämet heim
sie/Siekämen 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
dukomm heim
ihrkommt heim