simsen — German conjugation

to text

Frequency#1825Regular

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
ichsimseI text
dusimstyou text
er/sie/essimsthe/she/it texts
wirsimsenwe text
ihrsimstyou (pl.) text
sie/Siesimsenthey text

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
ichsimsteI texted
dusimstestyou texted
er/sie/essimstehe/she/it texted
wirsimstenwe texted
ihrsimstetyou (pl.) texted
sie/Siesimstenthey texted

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 gesimstI have texted
duhast gesimstyou have texted
er/sie/eshat gesimsthe/she/it has texted
wirhaben gesimstwe have texted
ihrhabt gesimstyou (pl.) have texted
sie/Siehaben gesimstthey have texted

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 gesimstI had texted
duhattest gesimstyou had texted
er/sie/eshatte gesimsthe/she/it had texted
wirhatten gesimstwe had texted
ihrhattet gesimstyou (pl.) had texted
sie/Siehatten gesimstthey had texted

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 simsenI will text
duwirst simsenyou will text
er/sie/eswird simsenhe/she/it will text
wirwerden simsenwe will text
ihrwerdet simsenyou (pl.) will text
sie/Siewerden simsenthey will text

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

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
ichsimste
dusimstest
er/sie/essimste
wirsimsten
ihrsimstet
sie/Siesimsten

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
dusimse
ihrsimst