lauschen — German conjugation

to listen (attentively)

Frequency#120Regular

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
ichlauscheI listen
dulauschstyou listen
er/sie/eslauschthe/she/it listens
wirlauschenwe listen
ihrlauschtyou (pl.) listen
sie/Sielauschenthey listen

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
ichlauschteI listened
dulauschtestyou listened
er/sie/eslauschtehe/she/it listened
wirlauschtenwe listened
ihrlauschtetyou (pl.) listened
sie/Sielauschtenthey listened

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 gelauschtI have listened
duhast gelauschtyou have listened
er/sie/eshat gelauschthe/she/it has listened
wirhaben gelauschtwe have listened
ihrhabt gelauschtyou (pl.) have listened
sie/Siehaben gelauschtthey have listened

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 gelauschtI had listened
duhattest gelauschtyou had listened
er/sie/eshatte gelauschthe/she/it had listened
wirhatten gelauschtwe had listened
ihrhattet gelauschtyou (pl.) had listened
sie/Siehatten gelauschtthey had listened

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 lauschenI will listen
duwirst lauschenyou will listen
er/sie/eswird lauschenhe/she/it will listen
wirwerden lauschenwe will listen
ihrwerdet lauschenyou (pl.) will listen
sie/Siewerden lauschenthey will listen

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

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
ichlauschte
dulauschtest
er/sie/eslauschte
wirlauschten
ihrlauschtet
sie/Sielauschten

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
dulausche
ihrlauscht