zubereiten — German conjugation
to prepare (to make food or drink ready for consumption)
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | bereite zu | I prepare |
| du | bereitest zu | you prepare |
| er/sie/es | bereitet zu | he/she/it prepares |
| wir | bereiten zu | we prepare |
| ihr | bereitet zu | you (pl.) prepare |
| sie/Sie | bereiten zu | they prepare |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | bereitete zu | I prepared |
| du | bereitetest zu | you prepared |
| er/sie/es | bereitete zu | he/she/it prepared |
| wir | bereiteten zu | we prepared |
| ihr | bereitetet zu | you (pl.) prepared |
| sie/Sie | bereiteten zu | they prepared |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | habe zubereitet | I have prepared |
| du | hast zubereitet | you have prepared |
| er/sie/es | hat zubereitet | he/she/it has prepared |
| wir | haben zubereitet | we have prepared |
| ihr | habt zubereitet | you (pl.) have prepared |
| sie/Sie | haben zubereitet | they have prepared |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | hatte zubereitet | I had prepared |
| du | hattest zubereitet | you had prepared |
| er/sie/es | hatte zubereitet | he/she/it had prepared |
| wir | hatten zubereitet | we had prepared |
| ihr | hattet zubereitet | you (pl.) had prepared |
| sie/Sie | hatten zubereitet | they had prepared |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde zubereiten | I will prepare |
| du | wirst zubereiten | you will prepare |
| er/sie/es | wird zubereiten | he/she/it will prepare |
| wir | werden zubereiten | we will prepare |
| ihr | werdet zubereiten | you (pl.) will prepare |
| sie/Sie | werden zubereiten | they will prepare |
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.
| Pronoun | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde zubereitet haben | I will have prepared |
| du | wirst zubereitet haben | you will have prepared |
| er/sie/es | wird zubereitet haben | he/she/it will have prepared |
| wir | werden zubereitet haben | we will have prepared |
| ihr | werdet zubereitet haben | you (pl.) will have prepared |
| sie/Sie | werden zubereitet haben | they will have prepared |
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?
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| ich | bereitete zu |
| du | bereitetest zu |
| er/sie/es | bereitete zu |
| wir | bereiteten zu |
| ihr | bereitetet zu |
| sie/Sie | bereiteten zu |
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.
| Pronoun | German |
|---|---|
| du | bereite zu |
| ihr | bereitet zu |