regeln — German conjugation

to regulate

Frequency#204Regular

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
ichregeleI regulate
duregelstyou regulate
er/sie/esregelthe/she/it regulates
wirregelnwe regulate
ihrregeltyou (pl.) regulate
sie/Sieregelnthey regulate

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
ichregelteI regulated
duregeltestyou regulated
er/sie/esregeltehe/she/it regulated
wirregeltenwe regulated
ihrregeltetyou (pl.) regulated
sie/Sieregeltenthey regulated

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 geregeltI have regulated
duhast geregeltyou have regulated
er/sie/eshat geregelthe/she/it has regulated
wirhaben geregeltwe have regulated
ihrhabt geregeltyou (pl.) have regulated
sie/Siehaben geregeltthey have regulated

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 geregeltI had regulated
duhattest geregeltyou had regulated
er/sie/eshatte geregelthe/she/it had regulated
wirhatten geregeltwe had regulated
ihrhattet geregeltyou (pl.) had regulated
sie/Siehatten geregeltthey had regulated

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 regelnI will regulate
duwirst regelnyou will regulate
er/sie/eswird regelnhe/she/it will regulate
wirwerden regelnwe will regulate
ihrwerdet regelnyou (pl.) will regulate
sie/Siewerden regelnthey will regulate

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

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
ichregelte
duregeltest
er/sie/esregelte
wirregelten
ihrregeltet
sie/Sieregelten

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
duregele
ihrregelt