scheiden — German conjugation

to separate

Frequency#138Irregular

Indicative

Present (Präsens) Irregular

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
ichscheideI separate
duscheidestyou separate
er/sie/esscheidethe/she/it separates
wirscheidenwe separate
ihrscheidetyou (pl.) separate
sie/Siescheidenthey separate

Simple past (Präteritum) Irregular

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
ichschiedI separated
duschiedestyou separated
er/sie/esschiedhe/she/it separated
wirschiedenwe separated
ihrschiedetyou (pl.) separated
sie/Sieschiedenthey separated

Present perfect (Perfekt) Irregular

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 geschiedenI have separated
duhast geschiedenyou have separated
er/sie/eshat geschiedenhe/she/it has separated
wirhaben geschiedenwe have separated
ihrhabt geschiedenyou (pl.) have separated
sie/Siehaben geschiedenthey have separated

Pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt) Irregular

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 geschiedenI had separated
duhattest geschiedenyou had separated
er/sie/eshatte geschiedenhe/she/it had separated
wirhatten geschiedenwe had separated
ihrhattet geschiedenyou (pl.) had separated
sie/Siehatten geschiedenthey had separated

Future I (Futur I) Irregular

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 scheidenI will separate
duwirst scheidenyou will separate
er/sie/eswird scheidenhe/she/it will separate
wirwerden scheidenwe will separate
ihrwerdet scheidenyou (pl.) will separate
sie/Siewerden scheidenthey will separate

Future II (Futur II) Irregular

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

Subjunctive

Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) Irregular

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
ichschiede
duschiedest
er/sie/esschiede
wirschieden
ihrschiedet
sie/Sieschieden

Other forms

Imperative (Imperativ) Irregular

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
duscheide
ihrscheidet