steuern — German conjugation

to tax

Frequency#353Regular

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
ichsteuereI tax
dusteuerstyou tax
er/sie/essteuerthe/she/it taxes
wirsteuernwe tax
ihrsteuertyou (pl.) tax
sie/Siesteuernthey tax

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
ichsteuerteI taxed
dusteuertestyou taxed
er/sie/essteuertehe/she/it taxed
wirsteuertenwe taxed
ihrsteuertetyou (pl.) taxed
sie/Siesteuertenthey taxed

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 gesteuertI have taxed
duhast gesteuertyou have taxed
er/sie/eshat gesteuerthe/she/it has taxed
wirhaben gesteuertwe have taxed
ihrhabt gesteuertyou (pl.) have taxed
sie/Siehaben gesteuertthey have taxed

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 gesteuertI had taxed
duhattest gesteuertyou had taxed
er/sie/eshatte gesteuerthe/she/it had taxed
wirhatten gesteuertwe had taxed
ihrhattet gesteuertyou (pl.) had taxed
sie/Siehatten gesteuertthey had taxed

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 steuernI will tax
duwirst steuernyou will tax
er/sie/eswird steuernhe/she/it will tax
wirwerden steuernwe will tax
ihrwerdet steuernyou (pl.) will tax
sie/Siewerden steuernthey will tax

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

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
ichsteuerte
dusteuertest
er/sie/essteuerte
wirsteuerten
ihrsteuertet
sie/Siesteuerten

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
dusteuere
ihrsteuert