kiebitzen — German conjugation

to watch (a game)

Frequency#2032Regular

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
ichkiebitzeI watch
dukiebitztyou watch
er/sie/eskiebitzthe/she/it watches
wirkiebitzenwe watch
ihrkiebitztyou (pl.) watch
sie/Siekiebitzenthey watch

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
ichkiebitzteI watched
dukiebitztestyou watched
er/sie/eskiebitztehe/she/it watched
wirkiebitztenwe watched
ihrkiebitztetyou (pl.) watched
sie/Siekiebitztenthey watched

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 gekiebitztI have watched
duhast gekiebitztyou have watched
er/sie/eshat gekiebitzthe/she/it has watched
wirhaben gekiebitztwe have watched
ihrhabt gekiebitztyou (pl.) have watched
sie/Siehaben gekiebitztthey have watched

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 gekiebitztI had watched
duhattest gekiebitztyou had watched
er/sie/eshatte gekiebitzthe/she/it had watched
wirhatten gekiebitztwe had watched
ihrhattet gekiebitztyou (pl.) had watched
sie/Siehatten gekiebitztthey had watched

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 kiebitzenI will watch
duwirst kiebitzenyou will watch
er/sie/eswird kiebitzenhe/she/it will watch
wirwerden kiebitzenwe will watch
ihrwerdet kiebitzenyou (pl.) will watch
sie/Siewerden kiebitzenthey will watch

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

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
ichkiebitzte
dukiebitztest
er/sie/eskiebitzte
wirkiebitzten
ihrkiebitztet
sie/Siekiebitzten

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
dukiebitze
ihrkiebitzt