illustrieren — German conjugation

to illustrate

Frequency#792Regular

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichillustriereI illustrate
duillustrierstyou illustrate
er/sie/esillustrierthe/she/it illustrates
wirillustrierenwe illustrate
ihrillustriertyou (pl.) illustrate
sie/Sieillustrierenthey illustrate

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichillustrierteI illustrated
duillustriertestyou illustrated
er/sie/esillustriertehe/she/it illustrated
wirillustriertenwe illustrated
ihrillustriertetyou (pl.) illustrated
sie/Sieillustriertenthey illustrated

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichhabe illustriertI have illustrated
duhast illustriertyou have illustrated
er/sie/eshat illustrierthe/she/it has illustrated
wirhaben illustriertwe have illustrated
ihrhabt illustriertyou (pl.) have illustrated
sie/Siehaben illustriertthey have illustrated

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichhatte illustriertI had illustrated
duhattest illustriertyou had illustrated
er/sie/eshatte illustrierthe/she/it had illustrated
wirhatten illustriertwe had illustrated
ihrhattet illustriertyou (pl.) had illustrated
sie/Siehatten illustriertthey had illustrated

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.

PronounGermanEnglish
ichwerde illustrierenI will illustrate
duwirst illustrierenyou will illustrate
er/sie/eswird illustrierenhe/she/it will illustrate
wirwerden illustrierenwe will illustrate
ihrwerdet illustrierenyou (pl.) will illustrate
sie/Siewerden illustrierenthey will illustrate

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.

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

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?

PronounGerman
ichillustrierte
duillustriertest
er/sie/esillustrierte
wirillustrierten
ihrillustriertet
sie/Sieillustrierten

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.

PronounGerman
duillustriere
ihrillustriert