spülen — German conjugation

to rinse

Frequency#2527Regular

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
ichspüleI rinse
duspülstyou rinse
er/sie/esspülthe/she/it rinses
wirspülenwe rinse
ihrspültyou (pl.) rinse
sie/Siespülenthey rinse

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
ichspülteI rinsed
duspültestyou rinsed
er/sie/esspültehe/she/it rinsed
wirspültenwe rinsed
ihrspültetyou (pl.) rinsed
sie/Siespültenthey rinsed

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 gespültI have rinsed
duhast gespültyou have rinsed
er/sie/eshat gespülthe/she/it has rinsed
wirhaben gespültwe have rinsed
ihrhabt gespültyou (pl.) have rinsed
sie/Siehaben gespültthey have rinsed

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 gespültI had rinsed
duhattest gespültyou had rinsed
er/sie/eshatte gespülthe/she/it had rinsed
wirhatten gespültwe had rinsed
ihrhattet gespültyou (pl.) had rinsed
sie/Siehatten gespültthey had rinsed

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 spülenI will rinse
duwirst spülenyou will rinse
er/sie/eswird spülenhe/she/it will rinse
wirwerden spülenwe will rinse
ihrwerdet spülenyou (pl.) will rinse
sie/Siewerden spülenthey will rinse

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

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
ichspülte
duspültest
er/sie/esspülte
wirspülten
ihrspültet
sie/Siespülten

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
duspüle
ihrspült