langen — German conjugation

to reach

Frequency#234Regular

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
ichlangeI reach
dulangstyou reach
er/sie/eslangthe/she/it reaches
wirlangenwe reach
ihrlangtyou (pl.) reach
sie/Sielangenthey reach

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
ichlangteI reached
dulangtestyou reached
er/sie/eslangtehe/she/it reached
wirlangtenwe reached
ihrlangtetyou (pl.) reached
sie/Sielangtenthey reached

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 gelangtI have reached
duhast gelangtyou have reached
er/sie/eshat gelangthe/she/it has reached
wirhaben gelangtwe have reached
ihrhabt gelangtyou (pl.) have reached
sie/Siehaben gelangtthey have reached

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 gelangtI had reached
duhattest gelangtyou had reached
er/sie/eshatte gelangthe/she/it had reached
wirhatten gelangtwe had reached
ihrhattet gelangtyou (pl.) had reached
sie/Siehatten gelangtthey had reached

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 langenI will reach
duwirst langenyou will reach
er/sie/eswird langenhe/she/it will reach
wirwerden langenwe will reach
ihrwerdet langenyou (pl.) will reach
sie/Siewerden langenthey will reach

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

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
ichlangte
dulangtest
er/sie/eslangte
wirlangten
ihrlangtet
sie/Sielangten

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
dulange
ihrlangt