mahnen — German conjugation

to remind

Frequency#1512Regular

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
ichmahneI remind
dumahnstyou remind
er/sie/esmahnthe/she/it reminds
wirmahnenwe remind
ihrmahntyou (pl.) remind
sie/Siemahnenthey remind

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
ichmahnteI reminded
dumahntestyou reminded
er/sie/esmahntehe/she/it reminded
wirmahntenwe reminded
ihrmahntetyou (pl.) reminded
sie/Siemahntenthey reminded

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 gemahntI have reminded
duhast gemahntyou have reminded
er/sie/eshat gemahnthe/she/it has reminded
wirhaben gemahntwe have reminded
ihrhabt gemahntyou (pl.) have reminded
sie/Siehaben gemahntthey have reminded

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 gemahntI had reminded
duhattest gemahntyou had reminded
er/sie/eshatte gemahnthe/she/it had reminded
wirhatten gemahntwe had reminded
ihrhattet gemahntyou (pl.) had reminded
sie/Siehatten gemahntthey had reminded

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 mahnenI will remind
duwirst mahnenyou will remind
er/sie/eswird mahnenhe/she/it will remind
wirwerden mahnenwe will remind
ihrwerdet mahnenyou (pl.) will remind
sie/Siewerden mahnenthey will remind

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

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
ichmahnte
dumahntest
er/sie/esmahnte
wirmahnten
ihrmahntet
sie/Siemahnten

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
dumahne
ihrmahnt