nachdenken — German conjugation
to think about
Indicative
Present (Präsens) Irregular
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | denke nach | I think about |
| du | denkst nach | you think about |
| er/sie/es | denkt nach | he/she/it thinks about |
| wir | denken nach | we think about |
| ihr | denkt nach | you (pl.) think about |
| sie/Sie | denken nach | they think about |
Simple past (Präteritum) Irregular
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | dachte nach | I thought about |
| du | dachtest nach | you thought about |
| er/sie/es | dachte nach | he/she/it thought about |
| wir | dachten nach | we thought about |
| ihr | dachtet nach | you (pl.) thought about |
| sie/Sie | dachten nach | they thought about |
Present perfect (Perfekt) Irregular
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | habe nachgedacht | I have thought about |
| du | hast nachgedacht | you have thought about |
| er/sie/es | hat nachgedacht | he/she/it has thought about |
| wir | haben nachgedacht | we have thought about |
| ihr | habt nachgedacht | you (pl.) have thought about |
| sie/Sie | haben nachgedacht | they have thought about |
Pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt) Irregular
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hatte nachgedacht | I had thought about |
| du | hattest nachgedacht | you had thought about |
| er/sie/es | hatte nachgedacht | he/she/it had thought about |
| wir | hatten nachgedacht | we had thought about |
| ihr | hattet nachgedacht | you (pl.) had thought about |
| sie/Sie | hatten nachgedacht | they had thought about |
Future I (Futur I) Irregular
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde nachdenken | I will think about |
| du | wirst nachdenken | you will think about |
| er/sie/es | wird nachdenken | he/she/it will think about |
| wir | werden nachdenken | we will think about |
| ihr | werdet nachdenken | you (pl.) will think about |
| sie/Sie | werden nachdenken | they will think about |
Future II (Futur II) Irregular
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde nachgedacht haben | I will have thought about |
| du | wirst nachgedacht haben | you will have thought about |
| er/sie/es | wird nachgedacht haben | he/she/it will have thought about |
| wir | werden nachgedacht haben | we will have thought about |
| ihr | werdet nachgedacht haben | you (pl.) will have thought about |
| sie/Sie | werden nachgedacht haben | they will have thought about |
Subjunctive
Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) Irregular
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?
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| ich | dächte nach |
| du | dächtest nach |
| er/sie/es | dächte nach |
| wir | dächten nach |
| ihr | dächtet nach |
| sie/Sie | dächten nach |
Other forms
Imperative (Imperativ) Irregular
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.
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| du | denke nach |
| ihr | denkt nach |