vollenden — German conjugation

to complete

Frequency#534Regular

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
ichvollendeI complete
duvollendestyou complete
er/sie/esvollendethe/she/it completes
wirvollendenwe complete
ihrvollendetyou (pl.) complete
sie/Sievollendenthey complete

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
ichvollendeteI completed
duvollendetestyou completed
er/sie/esvollendetehe/she/it completed
wirvollendetenwe completed
ihrvollendetetyou (pl.) completed
sie/Sievollendetenthey completed

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 vollendetI have completed
duhast vollendetyou have completed
er/sie/eshat vollendethe/she/it has completed
wirhaben vollendetwe have completed
ihrhabt vollendetyou (pl.) have completed
sie/Siehaben vollendetthey have completed

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 vollendetI had completed
duhattest vollendetyou had completed
er/sie/eshatte vollendethe/she/it had completed
wirhatten vollendetwe had completed
ihrhattet vollendetyou (pl.) had completed
sie/Siehatten vollendetthey had completed

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 vollendenI will complete
duwirst vollendenyou will complete
er/sie/eswird vollendenhe/she/it will complete
wirwerden vollendenwe will complete
ihrwerdet vollendenyou (pl.) will complete
sie/Siewerden vollendenthey will complete

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

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
ichvollendete
duvollendetest
er/sie/esvollendete
wirvollendeten
ihrvollendetet
sie/Sievollendeten

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
duvollende
ihrvollendet