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GERMAN VERB

gratulieren

to congratulate

  • #335 most used
  • Weak verb
  • Past participle: gratuliert

Conjugation

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

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

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

Simple past

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

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

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

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

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

Imperative

Imperativ · requests and orders: du, ihr, Sie

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

How to use gratulieren

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

  1. Present

    Ich gratuliere dir herzlich zum Geburtstag!

    Happy birthday, congratulations!

  2. Simple past

    Alle gratulierten ihm zur neuen Stelle.

    Everyone congratulated him on the new job.

  3. Perfect

    Hast du Oma schon gratuliert?

    Have you congratulated Grandma yet?

  4. Future

    Wir werden ihr morgen persönlich gratulieren.

    We'll congratulate her in person tomorrow.

  5. Conditional

    Ich würde ihm gern selbst gratulieren.

    I'd like to congratulate him myself.

  6. Imperative

    Gratulier ihr, sie hat die Prüfung bestanden.

    Congratulate her, she passed the exam.

Good to know

  • You congratulate someone in the dative, zu the occasion: ich gratuliere dir zum Geburtstag.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: weak verb.