säubern — German conjugation

to clean

Frequency#1003Regular

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
ichsäubereI clean
dusäuberstyou clean
er/sie/essäuberthe/she/it cleans
wirsäubernwe clean
ihrsäubertyou (pl.) clean
sie/Siesäubernthey clean

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
ichsäuberteI cleaned
dusäubertestyou cleaned
er/sie/essäubertehe/she/it cleaned
wirsäubertenwe cleaned
ihrsäubertetyou (pl.) cleaned
sie/Siesäubertenthey cleaned

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 gesäubertI have cleaned
duhast gesäubertyou have cleaned
er/sie/eshat gesäuberthe/she/it has cleaned
wirhaben gesäubertwe have cleaned
ihrhabt gesäubertyou (pl.) have cleaned
sie/Siehaben gesäubertthey have cleaned

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 gesäubertI had cleaned
duhattest gesäubertyou had cleaned
er/sie/eshatte gesäuberthe/she/it had cleaned
wirhatten gesäubertwe had cleaned
ihrhattet gesäubertyou (pl.) had cleaned
sie/Siehatten gesäubertthey had cleaned

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 säubernI will clean
duwirst säubernyou will clean
er/sie/eswird säubernhe/she/it will clean
wirwerden säubernwe will clean
ihrwerdet säubernyou (pl.) will clean
sie/Siewerden säubernthey will clean

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

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
ichsäuberte
dusäubertest
er/sie/essäuberte
wirsäuberten
ihrsäubertet
sie/Siesäuberten

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
dusäubere
ihrsäubert