instandhalten — German conjugation
to maintain
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | halte instand | I maintain |
| du | hältst instand | you maintain |
| er/sie/es | hält instand | he/she/it maintains |
| wir | halten instand | we maintain |
| ihr | haltet instand | you (pl.) maintain |
| sie/Sie | halten instand | they maintain |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hielt instand | I maintained |
| du | hieltest instand | you maintained |
| er/sie/es | hielt instand | he/she/it maintained |
| wir | hielten instand | we maintained |
| ihr | hieltet instand | you (pl.) maintained |
| sie/Sie | hielten instand | they maintained |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | habe instandgehalten | I have maintained |
| du | hast instandgehalten | you have maintained |
| er/sie/es | hat instandgehalten | he/she/it has maintained |
| wir | haben instandgehalten | we have maintained |
| ihr | habt instandgehalten | you (pl.) have maintained |
| sie/Sie | haben instandgehalten | they have maintained |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hatte instandgehalten | I had maintained |
| du | hattest instandgehalten | you had maintained |
| er/sie/es | hatte instandgehalten | he/she/it had maintained |
| wir | hatten instandgehalten | we had maintained |
| ihr | hattet instandgehalten | you (pl.) had maintained |
| sie/Sie | hatten instandgehalten | they had maintained |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde instandhalten | I will maintain |
| du | wirst instandhalten | you will maintain |
| er/sie/es | wird instandhalten | he/she/it will maintain |
| wir | werden instandhalten | we will maintain |
| ihr | werdet instandhalten | you (pl.) will maintain |
| sie/Sie | werden instandhalten | they will maintain |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde instandgehalten haben | I will have maintained |
| du | wirst instandgehalten haben | you will have maintained |
| er/sie/es | wird instandgehalten haben | he/she/it will have maintained |
| wir | werden instandgehalten haben | we will have maintained |
| ihr | werdet instandgehalten haben | you (pl.) will have maintained |
| sie/Sie | werden instandgehalten haben | they will have maintained |
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?
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| ich | hielte instand |
| du | hieltest instand |
| er/sie/es | hielte instand |
| wir | hielten instand |
| ihr | hieltet instand |
| sie/Sie | hielten instand |
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.
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| du | halte instand |
| ihr | haltet instand |