sparen — German conjugation

to save

Frequency#912Regular

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
ichspareI save
dusparstyou save
er/sie/essparthe/she/it saves
wirsparenwe save
ihrspartyou (pl.) save
sie/Siesparenthey save

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
ichsparteI saved
duspartestyou saved
er/sie/esspartehe/she/it saved
wirspartenwe saved
ihrspartetyou (pl.) saved
sie/Siespartenthey saved

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 gespartI have saved
duhast gespartyou have saved
er/sie/eshat gesparthe/she/it has saved
wirhaben gespartwe have saved
ihrhabt gespartyou (pl.) have saved
sie/Siehaben gespartthey have saved

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 gespartI had saved
duhattest gespartyou had saved
er/sie/eshatte gesparthe/she/it had saved
wirhatten gespartwe had saved
ihrhattet gespartyou (pl.) had saved
sie/Siehatten gespartthey had saved

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 sparenI will save
duwirst sparenyou will save
er/sie/eswird sparenhe/she/it will save
wirwerden sparenwe will save
ihrwerdet sparenyou (pl.) will save
sie/Siewerden sparenthey will save

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

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
ichsparte
duspartest
er/sie/essparte
wirsparten
ihrspartet
sie/Siesparten

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
duspare
ihrspart