herausfordern — German conjugation
to challenge
Indicative
Present (Präsens) Regular
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 | fordere heraus | I challenge |
| du | forderst heraus | you challenge |
| er/sie/es | fordert heraus | he/she/it challenges |
| wir | fordern heraus | we challenge |
| ihr | fordert heraus | you (pl.) challenge |
| sie/Sie | fordern heraus | they challenge |
Simple past (Präteritum) Regular
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 | forderte heraus | I challenged |
| du | fordertest heraus | you challenged |
| er/sie/es | forderte heraus | he/she/it challenged |
| wir | forderten heraus | we challenged |
| ihr | fordertet heraus | you (pl.) challenged |
| sie/Sie | forderten heraus | they challenged |
Present perfect (Perfekt) Regular
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 herausgefordert | I have challenged |
| du | hast herausgefordert | you have challenged |
| er/sie/es | hat herausgefordert | he/she/it has challenged |
| wir | haben herausgefordert | we have challenged |
| ihr | habt herausgefordert | you (pl.) have challenged |
| sie/Sie | haben herausgefordert | they have challenged |
Pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt) Regular
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 herausgefordert | I had challenged |
| du | hattest herausgefordert | you had challenged |
| er/sie/es | hatte herausgefordert | he/she/it had challenged |
| wir | hatten herausgefordert | we had challenged |
| ihr | hattet herausgefordert | you (pl.) had challenged |
| sie/Sie | hatten herausgefordert | they had challenged |
Future I (Futur I) Regular
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 herausfordern | I will challenge |
| du | wirst herausfordern | you will challenge |
| er/sie/es | wird herausfordern | he/she/it will challenge |
| wir | werden herausfordern | we will challenge |
| ihr | werdet herausfordern | you (pl.) will challenge |
| sie/Sie | werden herausfordern | they will challenge |
Future II (Futur II) Regular
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 herausgefordert haben | I will have challenged |
| du | wirst herausgefordert haben | you will have challenged |
| er/sie/es | wird herausgefordert haben | he/she/it will have challenged |
| wir | werden herausgefordert haben | we will have challenged |
| ihr | werdet herausgefordert haben | you (pl.) will have challenged |
| sie/Sie | werden herausgefordert haben | they will have challenged |
Subjunctive
Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) Regular
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 | forderte heraus |
| du | fordertest heraus |
| er/sie/es | forderte heraus |
| wir | forderten heraus |
| ihr | fordertet heraus |
| sie/Sie | forderten heraus |
Other forms
Imperative (Imperativ) Regular
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 | fordere heraus |
| ihr | fordert heraus |