liefern — German conjugation

to deliver

Frequency#941Regular

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
ichliefereI deliver
dulieferstyou deliver
er/sie/eslieferthe/she/it delivers
wirliefernwe deliver
ihrliefertyou (pl.) deliver
sie/Sieliefernthey deliver

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
ichlieferteI delivered
duliefertestyou delivered
er/sie/esliefertehe/she/it delivered
wirliefertenwe delivered
ihrliefertetyou (pl.) delivered
sie/Sieliefertenthey delivered

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 geliefertI have delivered
duhast geliefertyou have delivered
er/sie/eshat gelieferthe/she/it has delivered
wirhaben geliefertwe have delivered
ihrhabt geliefertyou (pl.) have delivered
sie/Siehaben geliefertthey have delivered

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 geliefertI had delivered
duhattest geliefertyou had delivered
er/sie/eshatte gelieferthe/she/it had delivered
wirhatten geliefertwe had delivered
ihrhattet geliefertyou (pl.) had delivered
sie/Siehatten geliefertthey had delivered

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 liefernI will deliver
duwirst liefernyou will deliver
er/sie/eswird liefernhe/she/it will deliver
wirwerden liefernwe will deliver
ihrwerdet liefernyou (pl.) will deliver
sie/Siewerden liefernthey will deliver

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

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
ichlieferte
duliefertest
er/sie/eslieferte
wirlieferten
ihrliefertet
sie/Sielieferten

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
duliefere
ihrliefert