paaren — German conjugation

to pair

Frequency#1121Regular

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
ichpaareI pair
dupaarstyou pair
er/sie/espaarthe/she/it pairs
wirpaarenwe pair
ihrpaartyou (pl.) pair
sie/Siepaarenthey pair

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
ichpaarteI paired
dupaartestyou paired
er/sie/espaartehe/she/it paired
wirpaartenwe paired
ihrpaartetyou (pl.) paired
sie/Siepaartenthey paired

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 gepaartI have paired
duhast gepaartyou have paired
er/sie/eshat gepaarthe/she/it has paired
wirhaben gepaartwe have paired
ihrhabt gepaartyou (pl.) have paired
sie/Siehaben gepaartthey have paired

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 gepaartI had paired
duhattest gepaartyou had paired
er/sie/eshatte gepaarthe/she/it had paired
wirhatten gepaartwe had paired
ihrhattet gepaartyou (pl.) had paired
sie/Siehatten gepaartthey had paired

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 paarenI will pair
duwirst paarenyou will pair
er/sie/eswird paarenhe/she/it will pair
wirwerden paarenwe will pair
ihrwerdet paarenyou (pl.) will pair
sie/Siewerden paarenthey will pair

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

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
ichpaarte
dupaartest
er/sie/espaarte
wirpaarten
ihrpaartet
sie/Siepaarten

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
dupaare
ihrpaart