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fluentbyear

GERMAN VERB

behaupten

to claim

  • #295 most used
  • Weak verb
  • Past participle: behauptet

Conjugation

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

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

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

Simple past

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

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

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

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

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

Imperative

Imperativ · requests and orders: du, ihr, Sie

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

How to use behaupten

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

  1. Present

    Er behauptet, er hätte nichts gewusst.

    He claims he didn't know anything.

  2. Simple past

    Sie behauptete, der Zug sei zu spät gewesen.

    She claimed the train had been late.

  3. Perfect

    Das habe ich nie behauptet!

    I never claimed that!

  4. Future

    Er wird wieder behaupten, es war Zufall.

    He'll claim again it was a coincidence.

  5. Conditional

    Ich würde nicht behaupten, dass er faul ist.

    I wouldn't claim that he's lazy.

  6. Imperative

    Behaupte nichts, was du nicht beweisen kannst.

    Don't claim anything you can't prove.

Good to know

  • Behaupten says someone states something that may not be true: er behauptet, er war krank.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: weak verb.