kegeln — German conjugation

to bowl

Frequency#1557Regular

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
ichkegeleI bowl
dukegelstyou bowl
er/sie/eskegelthe/she/it bowls
wirkegelnwe bowl
ihrkegeltyou (pl.) bowl
sie/Siekegelnthey bowl

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
ichkegelteI bowled
dukegeltestyou bowled
er/sie/eskegeltehe/she/it bowled
wirkegeltenwe bowled
ihrkegeltetyou (pl.) bowled
sie/Siekegeltenthey bowled

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 gekegeltI have bowled
duhast gekegeltyou have bowled
er/sie/eshat gekegelthe/she/it has bowled
wirhaben gekegeltwe have bowled
ihrhabt gekegeltyou (pl.) have bowled
sie/Siehaben gekegeltthey have bowled

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 gekegeltI had bowled
duhattest gekegeltyou had bowled
er/sie/eshatte gekegelthe/she/it had bowled
wirhatten gekegeltwe had bowled
ihrhattet gekegeltyou (pl.) had bowled
sie/Siehatten gekegeltthey had bowled

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 kegelnI will bowl
duwirst kegelnyou will bowl
er/sie/eswird kegelnhe/she/it will bowl
wirwerden kegelnwe will bowl
ihrwerdet kegelnyou (pl.) will bowl
sie/Siewerden kegelnthey will bowl

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 gekegelt habenI will have bowled
duwirst gekegelt habenyou will have bowled
er/sie/eswird gekegelt habenhe/she/it will have bowled
wirwerden gekegelt habenwe will have bowled
ihrwerdet gekegelt habenyou (pl.) will have bowled
sie/Siewerden gekegelt habenthey will have bowled

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
ichkegelte
dukegeltest
er/sie/eskegelte
wirkegelten
ihrkegeltet
sie/Siekegelten

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
dukegele
ihrkegelt