packen — German conjugation

to pack

Frequency#362Regular

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
ichpackeI pack
dupackstyou pack
er/sie/espackthe/she/it packs
wirpackenwe pack
ihrpacktyou (pl.) pack
sie/Siepackenthey pack

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
ichpackteI packed
dupacktestyou packed
er/sie/espacktehe/she/it packed
wirpacktenwe packed
ihrpacktetyou (pl.) packed
sie/Siepacktenthey packed

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 gepacktI have packed
duhast gepacktyou have packed
er/sie/eshat gepackthe/she/it has packed
wirhaben gepacktwe have packed
ihrhabt gepacktyou (pl.) have packed
sie/Siehaben gepacktthey have packed

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 gepacktI had packed
duhattest gepacktyou had packed
er/sie/eshatte gepackthe/she/it had packed
wirhatten gepacktwe had packed
ihrhattet gepacktyou (pl.) had packed
sie/Siehatten gepacktthey had packed

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 packenI will pack
duwirst packenyou will pack
er/sie/eswird packenhe/she/it will pack
wirwerden packenwe will pack
ihrwerdet packenyou (pl.) will pack
sie/Siewerden packenthey will pack

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

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
ichpackte
dupacktest
er/sie/espackte
wirpackten
ihrpacktet
sie/Siepackten

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
dupacke
ihrpackt