motzen — German conjugation

to complain

Frequency#2078Regular

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
ichmotzeI complain
dumotztyou complain
er/sie/esmotzthe/she/it complains
wirmotzenwe complain
ihrmotztyou (pl.) complain
sie/Siemotzenthey complain

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
ichmotzteI complained
dumotztestyou complained
er/sie/esmotztehe/she/it complained
wirmotztenwe complained
ihrmotztetyou (pl.) complained
sie/Siemotztenthey complained

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 gemotztI have complained
duhast gemotztyou have complained
er/sie/eshat gemotzthe/she/it has complained
wirhaben gemotztwe have complained
ihrhabt gemotztyou (pl.) have complained
sie/Siehaben gemotztthey have complained

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 gemotztI had complained
duhattest gemotztyou had complained
er/sie/eshatte gemotzthe/she/it had complained
wirhatten gemotztwe had complained
ihrhattet gemotztyou (pl.) had complained
sie/Siehatten gemotztthey had complained

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 motzenI will complain
duwirst motzenyou will complain
er/sie/eswird motzenhe/she/it will complain
wirwerden motzenwe will complain
ihrwerdet motzenyou (pl.) will complain
sie/Siewerden motzenthey will complain

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

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
ichmotzte
dumotztest
er/sie/esmotzte
wirmotzten
ihrmotztet
sie/Siemotzten

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
dumotze
ihrmotzt