The verb “tun” in German is a commonly used, irregular verb that translates to “to do” or “to put” in English. Understanding its conjugation is essential for forming sentences in various tenses. Let's look into how “tun” is conjugated across different grammatical tenses.
Present Tense
In the present tense, “tun” conjugates as follows:
– ich tue (I do)
– du tust (you do)
– er/sie/es tut (he/she/it does)
– wir tun (we do)
– ihr tut (you do)
– sie/Sie tun (they/you do)
Simple Past Tense
In the simple past tense, “tun” conjugates as:
– ich tat (I did)
– du tatst (you did)
– er/sie/es tat (he/she/it did)
– wir taten (we did)
– ihr tatet (you did)
– sie/Sie taten (they/you did)
Future Tense
For the future tense, German often uses the present tense of “werden” (to become) along with the infinitive of the main verb. Therefore, the future tense of “tun” is formed as:
– ich werde tun (I will do)
– du wirst tun (you will do)
– er/sie/es wird tun (he/she/it will do)
– wir werden tun (we will do)
– ihr werdet tun (you will do)
– sie/Sie werden tun (they/you will do)
Perfect Tense
In the perfect tense, “tun” is conjugated with the auxiliary verb “haben” (to have) and the past participle “getan”. The conjugation is as follows:
– ich habe getan (I have done)
– du hast getan (you have done)
– er/sie/es hat getan (he/she/it has done)
– wir haben getan (we have done)
– ihr habt getan (you have done)
– sie/Sie haben getan (they/you have done)
Past Perfect Tense
The past perfect tense, also known as the pluperfect, is formed similarly to the perfect tense, but with the past tense of the auxiliary verb “haben” and the past participle “getan”. The conjugation is:
– ich hatte getan (I had done)
– du hattest getan (you had done)
– er/sie/es hatte getan (he/she/it had done)
– wir hatten getan (we had done)
– ihr hattet getan (you had done)
– sie/Sie hatten getan (they/you had done)
Future Perfect Tense
The future perfect tense, indicating an action that will have been completed by a certain point in the future, is formed with the future tense of “haben” and the past participle “getan”. The conjugation is:
– ich werde getan haben (I will have done)
– du wirst getan haben (you will have done)
– er/sie/es wird getan haben (he/she/it will have done)
– wir werden getan haben (we will have done)
– ihr werdet getan haben (you will have done)
– sie/Sie werden getan haben (they/you will have done)