schwellen — German conjugation

to swell

Frequency#959Irregular

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
ichschwelleI swell
duschwillstyou swell
er/sie/esschwillthe/she/it swells
wirschwellenwe swell
ihrschwelltyou (pl.) swell
sie/Sieschwellenthey swell

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
ichschwollI swelled
duschwollstyou swelled
er/sie/esschwollhe/she/it swelled
wirschwollenwe swelled
ihrschwolltyou (pl.) swelled
sie/Sieschwollenthey swelled

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
ichbin geschwollenI have swollen
dubist geschwollenyou have swollen
er/sie/esist geschwollenhe/she/it has swollen
wirsind geschwollenwe have swollen
ihrseid geschwollenyou (pl.) have swollen
sie/Siesind geschwollenthey have swollen

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
ichwar geschwollenI had swollen
duwarst geschwollenyou had swollen
er/sie/eswar geschwollenhe/she/it had swollen
wirwaren geschwollenwe had swollen
ihrwart geschwollenyou (pl.) had swollen
sie/Siewaren geschwollenthey had swollen

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 schwellenI will swell
duwirst schwellenyou will swell
er/sie/eswird schwellenhe/she/it will swell
wirwerden schwellenwe will swell
ihrwerdet schwellenyou (pl.) will swell
sie/Siewerden schwellenthey will swell

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 geschwollen seinI will have swollen
duwirst geschwollen seinyou will have swollen
er/sie/eswird geschwollen seinhe/she/it will have swollen
wirwerden geschwollen seinwe will have swollen
ihrwerdet geschwollen seinyou (pl.) will have swollen
sie/Siewerden geschwollen seinthey will have swollen

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
ichschwölle
duschwöllest
er/sie/esschwölle
wirschwöllen
ihrschwöllet
sie/Sieschwöllen

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
duschwill
ihrschwellt