verlieren — German conjugation
to lose
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | verliere | I lose |
| du | verlierst | you lose |
| er/sie/es | verliert | he/she/it loses |
| wir | verlieren | we lose |
| ihr | verliert | you (pl.) lose |
| sie/Sie | verlieren | they lose |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | verlor | I lost |
| du | verlorst | you lost |
| er/sie/es | verlor | he/she/it lost |
| wir | verloren | we lost |
| ihr | verlort | you (pl.) lost |
| sie/Sie | verloren | they lost |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | habe verloren | I have lost |
| du | hast verloren | you have lost |
| er/sie/es | hat verloren | he/she/it has lost |
| wir | haben verloren | we have lost |
| ihr | habt verloren | you (pl.) have lost |
| sie/Sie | haben verloren | they have lost |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hatte verloren | I had lost |
| du | hattest verloren | you had lost |
| er/sie/es | hatte verloren | he/she/it had lost |
| wir | hatten verloren | we had lost |
| ihr | hattet verloren | you (pl.) had lost |
| sie/Sie | hatten verloren | they had lost |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde verlieren | I will lose |
| du | wirst verlieren | you will lose |
| er/sie/es | wird verlieren | he/she/it will lose |
| wir | werden verlieren | we will lose |
| ihr | werdet verlieren | you (pl.) will lose |
| sie/Sie | werden verlieren | they will lose |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde verloren haben | I will have lost |
| du | wirst verloren haben | you will have lost |
| er/sie/es | wird verloren haben | he/she/it will have lost |
| wir | werden verloren haben | we will have lost |
| ihr | werdet verloren haben | you (pl.) will have lost |
| sie/Sie | werden verloren haben | they will have lost |
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?
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| ich | verlöre |
| du | verlörest |
| er/sie/es | verlöre |
| wir | verlören |
| ihr | verlöret |
| sie/Sie | verlören |
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.
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| du | verliere |
| ihr | verliert |