speiben — German conjugation

to spit

Frequency#2690Irregular

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
ichspeibeI spit
duspeibstyou spit
er/sie/esspeibthe/she/it spits
wirspeibenwe spit
ihrspeibtyou (pl.) spit
sie/Siespeibenthey spit

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
ichspiebI spat
duspiebstyou spat
er/sie/esspiebhe/she/it spat
wirspiebenwe spat
ihrspiebtyou (pl.) spat
sie/Siespiebenthey spat

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
ichhabe gespienI have spat
duhast gespienyou have spat
er/sie/eshat gespienhe/she/it has spat
wirhaben gespienwe have spat
ihrhabt gespienyou (pl.) have spat
sie/Siehaben gespienthey have spat

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
ichhatte gespienI had spat
duhattest gespienyou had spat
er/sie/eshatte gespienhe/she/it had spat
wirhatten gespienwe had spat
ihrhattet gespienyou (pl.) had spat
sie/Siehatten gespienthey had spat

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 speibenI will spit
duwirst speibenyou will spit
er/sie/eswird speibenhe/she/it will spit
wirwerden speibenwe will spit
ihrwerdet speibenyou (pl.) will spit
sie/Siewerden speibenthey will spit

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

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
ichspiebe
duspiebest
er/sie/esspiebe
wirspieben
ihrspiebet
sie/Siespieben

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
duspeibe
ihrspeibt