schonen — German conjugation

to spare

Frequency#1655Regular

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
ichschoneI spare
duschonstyou spare
er/sie/esschonthe/she/it spares
wirschonenwe spare
ihrschontyou (pl.) spare
sie/Sieschonenthey spare

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
ichschonteI spared
duschontestyou spared
er/sie/esschontehe/she/it spared
wirschontenwe spared
ihrschontetyou (pl.) spared
sie/Sieschontenthey spared

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 geschontI have spared
duhast geschontyou have spared
er/sie/eshat geschonthe/she/it has spared
wirhaben geschontwe have spared
ihrhabt geschontyou (pl.) have spared
sie/Siehaben geschontthey have spared

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 geschontI had spared
duhattest geschontyou had spared
er/sie/eshatte geschonthe/she/it had spared
wirhatten geschontwe had spared
ihrhattet geschontyou (pl.) had spared
sie/Siehatten geschontthey had spared

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 schonenI will spare
duwirst schonenyou will spare
er/sie/eswird schonenhe/she/it will spare
wirwerden schonenwe will spare
ihrwerdet schonenyou (pl.) will spare
sie/Siewerden schonenthey will spare

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

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
ichschonte
duschontest
er/sie/esschonte
wirschonten
ihrschontet
sie/Sieschonten

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
duschone
ihrschont