schicken — German conjugation

to send

Frequency#86Regular

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
ichschickeI send
duschickstyou send
er/sie/esschickthe/she/it sends
wirschickenwe send
ihrschicktyou (pl.) send
sie/Sieschickenthey send

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
ichschickteI sent
duschicktestyou sent
er/sie/esschicktehe/she/it sent
wirschicktenwe sent
ihrschicktetyou (pl.) sent
sie/Sieschicktenthey sent

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 geschicktI have sent
duhast geschicktyou have sent
er/sie/eshat geschickthe/she/it has sent
wirhaben geschicktwe have sent
ihrhabt geschicktyou (pl.) have sent
sie/Siehaben geschicktthey have sent

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 geschicktI had sent
duhattest geschicktyou had sent
er/sie/eshatte geschickthe/she/it had sent
wirhatten geschicktwe had sent
ihrhattet geschicktyou (pl.) had sent
sie/Siehatten geschicktthey had sent

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 schickenI will send
duwirst schickenyou will send
er/sie/eswird schickenhe/she/it will send
wirwerden schickenwe will send
ihrwerdet schickenyou (pl.) will send
sie/Siewerden schickenthey will send

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

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
ichschickte
duschicktest
er/sie/esschickte
wirschickten
ihrschicktet
sie/Sieschickten

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
duschicke
ihrschickt