schneien — German conjugation

to snow

Frequency#1309Regular

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
ichschneieI snow
duschneistyou snow
er/sie/esschneithe/she/it snows
wirschneienwe snow
ihrschneityou (pl.) snow
sie/Sieschneienthey snow

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
ichschneiteI snowed
duschneitestyou snowed
er/sie/esschneitehe/she/it snowed
wirschneitenwe snowed
ihrschneitetyou (pl.) snowed
sie/Sieschneitenthey snowed

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 geschneitI have snowed
duhast geschneityou have snowed
er/sie/eshat geschneithe/she/it has snowed
wirhaben geschneitwe have snowed
ihrhabt geschneityou (pl.) have snowed
sie/Siehaben geschneitthey have snowed

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 geschneitI had snowed
duhattest geschneityou had snowed
er/sie/eshatte geschneithe/she/it had snowed
wirhatten geschneitwe had snowed
ihrhattet geschneityou (pl.) had snowed
sie/Siehatten geschneitthey had snowed

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 schneienI will snow
duwirst schneienyou will snow
er/sie/eswird schneienhe/she/it will snow
wirwerden schneienwe will snow
ihrwerdet schneienyou (pl.) will snow
sie/Siewerden schneienthey will snow

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

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
ichschneite
duschneitest
er/sie/esschneite
wirschneiten
ihrschneitet
sie/Sieschneiten

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
duschneie
ihrschneit