kirren — German conjugation

to call

Frequency#2033Regular

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
ichkirreI call
dukirrstyou call
er/sie/eskirrthe/she/it calls
wirkirrenwe call
ihrkirrtyou (pl.) call
sie/Siekirrenthey call

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
ichkirrteI called
dukirrtestyou called
er/sie/eskirrtehe/she/it called
wirkirrtenwe called
ihrkirrtetyou (pl.) called
sie/Siekirrtenthey called

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 gekirrtI have called
duhast gekirrtyou have called
er/sie/eshat gekirrthe/she/it has called
wirhaben gekirrtwe have called
ihrhabt gekirrtyou (pl.) have called
sie/Siehaben gekirrtthey have called

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 gekirrtI had called
duhattest gekirrtyou had called
er/sie/eshatte gekirrthe/she/it had called
wirhatten gekirrtwe had called
ihrhattet gekirrtyou (pl.) had called
sie/Siehatten gekirrtthey had called

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 kirrenI will call
duwirst kirrenyou will call
er/sie/eswird kirrenhe/she/it will call
wirwerden kirrenwe will call
ihrwerdet kirrenyou (pl.) will call
sie/Siewerden kirrenthey will call

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

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
ichkirrte
dukirrtest
er/sie/eskirrte
wirkirrten
ihrkirrtet
sie/Siekirrten

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
dukirre
ihrkirrt