pogen — German conjugation

to be able

Frequency#2327Regular

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
ichpogeI am able
dupogstyou are able
er/sie/espogthe/she/it is able
wirpogenwe are able
ihrpogtyou (pl.) are able
sie/Siepogenthey are able

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
ichpogteI was able
dupogtestyou were able
er/sie/espogtehe/she/it was able
wirpogtenwe were able
ihrpogtetyou (pl.) were able
sie/Siepogtenthey were able

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 gepogtI have been able
duhast gepogtyou have been able
er/sie/eshat gepogthe/she/it has been able
wirhaben gepogtwe have been able
ihrhabt gepogtyou (pl.) have been able
sie/Siehaben gepogtthey have been able

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 gepogtI had been able
duhattest gepogtyou had been able
er/sie/eshatte gepogthe/she/it had been able
wirhatten gepogtwe had been able
ihrhattet gepogtyou (pl.) had been able
sie/Siehatten gepogtthey had been able

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 pogenI will be able
duwirst pogenyou will be able
er/sie/eswird pogenhe/she/it will be able
wirwerden pogenwe will be able
ihrwerdet pogenyou (pl.) will be able
sie/Siewerden pogenthey will be able

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

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
ichpogte
dupogtest
er/sie/espogte
wirpogten
ihrpogtet
sie/Siepogten

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
dupoge
ihrpogt