strafen — German conjugation

to punish

Frequency#298Regular

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
ichstrafeI punish
dustrafstyou punish
er/sie/esstrafthe/she/it punishes
wirstrafenwe punish
ihrstraftyou (pl.) punish
sie/Siestrafenthey punish

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
ichstrafteI punished
dustraftestyou punished
er/sie/esstraftehe/she/it punished
wirstraftenwe punished
ihrstraftetyou (pl.) punished
sie/Siestraftenthey punished

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 gestraftI have punished
duhast gestraftyou have punished
er/sie/eshat gestrafthe/she/it has punished
wirhaben gestraftwe have punished
ihrhabt gestraftyou (pl.) have punished
sie/Siehaben gestraftthey have punished

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 gestraftI had punished
duhattest gestraftyou had punished
er/sie/eshatte gestrafthe/she/it had punished
wirhatten gestraftwe had punished
ihrhattet gestraftyou (pl.) had punished
sie/Siehatten gestraftthey had punished

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 strafenI will punish
duwirst strafenyou will punish
er/sie/eswird strafenhe/she/it will punish
wirwerden strafenwe will punish
ihrwerdet strafenyou (pl.) will punish
sie/Siewerden strafenthey will punish

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

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
ichstrafte
dustraftest
er/sie/esstrafte
wirstraften
ihrstraftet
sie/Siestraften

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
dustrafe
ihrstraft