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fluentbyear

GERMAN VERB

abnehmen

to decrease; to lose weight

  • #315 most used
  • Strong verb
  • Past participle: abgenommen

Conjugation

Tap any form to hear it. The part that changes is in colour.

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

  1. ich I decrease
  2. du you decrease
  3. er, sie, es he/she decreases
  4. wir we decrease
  5. ihr you all decrease
  6. sie, Sie they decrease

Simple past

Präteritum · the past of writing, and of sein, haben and the modals in speech

  1. ich I decreased
  2. du you decreased
  3. er, sie, es he/she decreased
  4. wir we decreased
  5. ihr you all decreased
  6. sie, Sie they decreased

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

  1. ich I have decreased
  2. du you have decreased
  3. er, sie, es he/she has decreased
  4. wir we have decreased
  5. ihr you all have decreased
  6. sie, Sie they have decreased

Future

Futur I · “werden”; in speech the present with “morgen” does the job

  1. ich I will decrease
  2. du you will decrease
  3. er, sie, es he/she will decrease
  4. wir we will decrease
  5. ihr you all will decrease
  6. sie, Sie they will decrease

Conditional

Konjunktiv II · “would”: “würde”, and “wäre”, “hätte”, “könnte”

  1. ich I would decrease
  2. du you would decrease
  3. er, sie, es he/she would decrease
  4. wir we would decrease
  5. ihr you all would decrease
  6. sie, Sie they would decrease

Imperative

Imperativ · requests and orders: du, ihr, Sie

  1. du decrease!
  2. ihr decrease! (all of you)
  3. Sie decrease! (formal)

How to use abnehmen

One sentence for each tense, the way people say it.

  1. Present

    Ich nehme gerade ab, kein Kuchen für mich.

    I'm losing weight right now, no cake for me.

  2. Simple past

    Sie nahm nach der Krankheit stark ab.

    She lost a lot of weight after the illness.

  3. Perfect

    Du hast abgenommen, siehst gut aus!

    You've lost weight, you look good!

  4. Future

    Die Schmerzen werden bald abnehmen.

    The pain will ease soon.

  5. Conditional

    Ich würde gern fünf Kilo abnehmen.

    I'd like to lose five kilos.

  6. Imperative

    Nimm bitte ab, es klingelt schon lange.

    Please pick up, it's been ringing for ages.

Good to know

  • Abnehmen is also to pick up the phone and to take something off someone: ich nehme dir die Tasche ab.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: strong verb.