wiederkommen — German conjugation

to come back

Frequency#1010Irregular

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
ichkomme wiederI come back
dukommst wiederyou come back
er/sie/eskommt wiederhe/she/it comes back
wirkommen wiederwe come back
ihrkommt wiederyou (pl.) come back
sie/Siekommen wiederthey come back

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
ichkam wiederI came back
dukamst wiederyou came back
er/sie/eskam wiederhe/she/it came back
wirkamen wiederwe came back
ihrkamt wiederyou (pl.) came back
sie/Siekamen wiederthey came back

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 wiedergekommenI have come back
dubist wiedergekommenyou have come back
er/sie/esist wiedergekommenhe/she/it has come back
wirsind wiedergekommenwe have come back
ihrseid wiedergekommenyou (pl.) have come back
sie/Siesind wiedergekommenthey have come back

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 wiedergekommenI had come back
duwarst wiedergekommenyou had come back
er/sie/eswar wiedergekommenhe/she/it had come back
wirwaren wiedergekommenwe had come back
ihrwart wiedergekommenyou (pl.) had come back
sie/Siewaren wiedergekommenthey had come back

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 wiederkommenI will come back
duwirst wiederkommenyou will come back
er/sie/eswird wiederkommenhe/she/it will come back
wirwerden wiederkommenwe will come back
ihrwerdet wiederkommenyou (pl.) will come back
sie/Siewerden wiederkommenthey will come back

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

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
ichkäme wieder
dukämest wieder
er/sie/eskäme wieder
wirkämen wieder
ihrkämet wieder
sie/Siekämen wieder

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
dukomme wieder
ihrkommt wieder