verraten — German conjugation

to betray, to be disloyal to

Frequency#503Irregular

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
ichverrateI betray
duverrätstyou betray
er/sie/esverräthe/she/it betrays
wirverratenwe betray
ihrverratetyou (pl.) betray
sie/Sieverratenthey betray

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
ichverrietI betrayed
duverrietestyou betrayed
er/sie/esverriethe/she/it betrayed
wirverrietenwe betrayed
ihrverrietetyou (pl.) betrayed
sie/Sieverrietenthey betrayed

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 verratenI have betrayed
duhast verratenyou have betrayed
er/sie/eshat verratenhe/she/it has betrayed
wirhaben verratenwe have betrayed
ihrhabt verratenyou (pl.) have betrayed
sie/Siehaben verratenthey have betrayed

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 verratenI had betrayed
duhattest verratenyou had betrayed
er/sie/eshatte verratenhe/she/it had betrayed
wirhatten verratenwe had betrayed
ihrhattet verratenyou (pl.) had betrayed
sie/Siehatten verratenthey had betrayed

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 verratenI will betray
duwirst verratenyou will betray
er/sie/eswird verratenhe/she/it will betray
wirwerden verratenwe will betray
ihrwerdet verratenyou (pl.) will betray
sie/Siewerden verratenthey will betray

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

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
ichverriete
duverrietest
er/sie/esverriete
wirverrieten
ihrverrietet
sie/Sieverrieten

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
duverrate
ihrverratet