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fluentbyear

GERMAN VERB

fehlen

to be missing; was fehlt Ihnen, what is wrong with you

  • #98 most used
  • Weak verb
  • Past participle: gefehlt

Conjugation

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

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

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

Simple past

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

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

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

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

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

How to use fehlen

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

  1. Present

    Mir fehlt noch ein Euro für den Automaten.

    I'm still one euro short for the machine.

  2. Simple past

    Gestern fehlten drei Kollegen wegen der Grippe.

    Yesterday three colleagues were off with the flu.

  3. Perfect

    Du hast uns auf der Party sehr gefehlt.

    We really missed you at the party.

  4. Future

    Ohne dich wird mir hier etwas fehlen.

    Without you, something will be missing for me here.

  5. Conditional

    Ohne Kaffee würde mir morgens etwas fehlen.

    Without coffee, my mornings would be missing something.

Good to know

  • Du fehlst mir is "I miss you": the one who is missed is the subject.
  • At the doctor's, Was fehlt Ihnen? means "What seems to be the trouble?"

Where you hear fehlen

The lessons that teach a form of it, and how they say it.

German · Beginner Level 2

  • Was fehlt Ihnen? What's wrong with you?
  • Gestern hat mir nichts gefehlt. Yesterday nothing was wrong with me.
  • Morgen fehlt Ihnen nichts mehr. Tomorrow nothing will be wrong with you any more.

German · Intermediate Level 1

  • Was fehlt Ihnen? What's wrong with you?
  • Gestern hat mir nichts gefehlt. Yesterday nothing was wrong with me.
  • Morgen fehlt Ihnen nichts mehr. Tomorrow nothing will be wrong with you any more.
19
A Cold at the Pharmacy

Beginner Level 2 · Guten Tag. Was fehlt Ihnen?

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Two Weeks to Decide

Intermediate Level 1 · Du fehlst mir. · Und Nina? Sie fehlt dir auch.

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Explaining to Oma

Intermediate Level 2 · Sehr, Oma. Und du fehlst mir.

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What Can Be Demanded

Advanced Level 1 · Und wenn die Begründung fehlt?

Needs a subscription 21
The Money Is Short

Advanced Level 2 · Wie viel fehlt denn noch? · Es fehlen noch hundertfünfzigtausend Euro. · Doch. Uns fehlt nur eine Idee.

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The Joke of the Week

Fluency Level 1 · Und? Die Pointe? Die fehlt, Max.

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A Book from the Tour

Fluency Level 2 · Mit allen. Jetzt fehlt nur der Titel.

Needs a subscription 27
Max's Thanks

Fluency Level 3 · Mir fehlen die Worte.

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Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: weak verb.