labern — German conjugation

to babble

Frequency#1639Regular

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
ichlabereI babble
dulaberstyou babble
er/sie/eslaberthe/she/it babbles
wirlabernwe babble
ihrlabertyou (pl.) babble
sie/Sielabernthey babble

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
ichlaberteI babbled
dulabertestyou babbled
er/sie/eslabertehe/she/it babbled
wirlabertenwe babbled
ihrlabertetyou (pl.) babbled
sie/Sielabertenthey babbled

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 gelabertI have babbled
duhast gelabertyou have babbled
er/sie/eshat gelaberthe/she/it has babbled
wirhaben gelabertwe have babbled
ihrhabt gelabertyou (pl.) have babbled
sie/Siehaben gelabertthey have babbled

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 gelabertI had babbled
duhattest gelabertyou had babbled
er/sie/eshatte gelaberthe/she/it had babbled
wirhatten gelabertwe had babbled
ihrhattet gelabertyou (pl.) had babbled
sie/Siehatten gelabertthey had babbled

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 labernI will babble
duwirst labernyou will babble
er/sie/eswird labernhe/she/it will babble
wirwerden labernwe will babble
ihrwerdet labernyou (pl.) will babble
sie/Siewerden labernthey will babble

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

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
ichlaberte
dulabertest
er/sie/eslaberte
wirlaberten
ihrlabertet
sie/Sielaberten

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
dulabere
ihrlabert