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GERMAN VERB

drehen

to turn

  • #490 most used
  • Weak verb
  • Past participle: gedreht

Conjugation

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

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

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

Simple past

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

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

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

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

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

Imperative

Imperativ · requests and orders: du, ihr, Sie

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

How to use drehen

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

  1. Present

    Der Wind dreht heute nach Westen.

    The wind is turning west today.

  2. Simple past

    Sie drehte sich um und lächelte.

    She turned round and smiled.

  3. Perfect

    Ich habe den Schlüssel zweimal gedreht.

    I turned the key twice.

  4. Future

    Sie werden den Film in Hamburg drehen.

    They'll shoot the film in Hamburg.

  5. Conditional

    Ich würde die Heizung etwas höher drehen.

    I'd turn the heating up a bit.

  6. Imperative

    Dreh dich mal um, da ist jemand.

    Turn round, there's someone there.

Good to know

  • Sich drehen is to turn round or to spin: dreh dich mal um. Einen Film drehen is to shoot a film.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: weak verb.