streiten — German conjugation

to argue

Frequency#148Irregular

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
ichstreiteI argue
dustreitestyou argue
er/sie/esstreitethe/she/it argues
wirstreitenwe argue
ihrstreitetyou (pl.) argue
sie/Siestreitenthey argue

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
ichstrittI argued
dustrittestyou argued
er/sie/esstritthe/she/it argued
wirstrittenwe argued
ihrstrittetyou (pl.) argued
sie/Siestrittenthey argued

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 gestrittenI have argued
duhast gestrittenyou have argued
er/sie/eshat gestrittenhe/she/it has argued
wirhaben gestrittenwe have argued
ihrhabt gestrittenyou (pl.) have argued
sie/Siehaben gestrittenthey have argued

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 gestrittenI had argued
duhattest gestrittenyou had argued
er/sie/eshatte gestrittenhe/she/it had argued
wirhatten gestrittenwe had argued
ihrhattet gestrittenyou (pl.) had argued
sie/Siehatten gestrittenthey had argued

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 streitenI will argue
duwirst streitenyou will argue
er/sie/eswird streitenhe/she/it will argue
wirwerden streitenwe will argue
ihrwerdet streitenyou (pl.) will argue
sie/Siewerden streitenthey will argue

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

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
ichstritte
dustrittest
er/sie/esstritte
wirstritten
ihrstrittet
sie/Siestritten

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
dustreite
ihrstreitet