vorfallen — German conjugation

to occur

Frequency#2644Irregular

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
ichfalle vorI occur
dufällst voryou occur
er/sie/esfällt vorhe/she/it occurs
wirfallen vorwe occur
ihrfallt voryou (pl.) occur
sie/Siefallen vorthey occur

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
ichfiel vorI occurred
dufielst voryou occurred
er/sie/esfiel vorhe/she/it occurred
wirfielen vorwe occurred
ihrfielt voryou (pl.) occurred
sie/Siefielen vorthey occurred

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
ichbin vorgefallenI have occurred
dubist vorgefallenyou have occurred
er/sie/esist vorgefallenhe/she/it has occurred
wirsind vorgefallenwe have occurred
ihrseid vorgefallenyou (pl.) have occurred
sie/Siesind vorgefallenthey have occurred

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
ichwar vorgefallenI had occurred
duwarst vorgefallenyou had occurred
er/sie/eswar vorgefallenhe/she/it had occurred
wirwaren vorgefallenwe had occurred
ihrwart vorgefallenyou (pl.) had occurred
sie/Siewaren vorgefallenthey had occurred

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 vorfallenI will occur
duwirst vorfallenyou will occur
er/sie/eswird vorfallenhe/she/it will occur
wirwerden vorfallenwe will occur
ihrwerdet vorfallenyou (pl.) will occur
sie/Siewerden vorfallenthey will occur

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 vorgefallen seinI will have occurred
duwirst vorgefallen seinyou will have occurred
er/sie/eswird vorgefallen seinhe/she/it will have occurred
wirwerden vorgefallen seinwe will have occurred
ihrwerdet vorgefallen seinyou (pl.) will have occurred
sie/Siewerden vorgefallen seinthey will have occurred

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
ichfiele vor
dufielest vor
er/sie/esfiele vor
wirfielen vor
ihrfielet vor
sie/Siefielen vor

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
dufalle vor
ihrfallt vor