verwenden — German conjugation

to use

Frequency#182Irregular

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
ichverwendeI use
duverwendestyou use
er/sie/esverwendethe/she/it uses
wirverwendenwe use
ihrverwendetyou (pl.) use
sie/Sieverwendenthey use

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
ichverwendeteI used
duverwendetestyou used
er/sie/esverwendetehe/she/it used
wirverwendetenwe used
ihrverwendetetyou (pl.) used
sie/Sieverwendetenthey used

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 verwendetI have used
duhast verwendetyou have used
er/sie/eshat verwendethe/she/it has used
wirhaben verwendetwe have used
ihrhabt verwendetyou (pl.) have used
sie/Siehaben verwendetthey have used

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 verwendetI had used
duhattest verwendetyou had used
er/sie/eshatte verwendethe/she/it had used
wirhatten verwendetwe had used
ihrhattet verwendetyou (pl.) had used
sie/Siehatten verwendetthey had used

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 verwendenI will use
duwirst verwendenyou will use
er/sie/eswird verwendenhe/she/it will use
wirwerden verwendenwe will use
ihrwerdet verwendenyou (pl.) will use
sie/Siewerden verwendenthey will use

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

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
ichverwendete
duverwendetest
er/sie/esverwendete
wirverwendeten
ihrverwendetet
sie/Sieverwendeten

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
duverwende
ihrverwendet