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GERMAN VERB

leidtun

to be sorry; es tut mir leid

  • #127 most used
  • Strong verb
  • Past participle: leidgetan

Conjugation

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

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

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

Simple past

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

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

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

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

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

How to use leidtun

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

  1. Present

    Es tut mir leid, ich habe es vergessen.

    I'm sorry, I forgot.

  2. Simple past

    Es tat ihr sehr leid, aber sie konnte nicht kommen.

    She was very sorry, but she couldn't come.

  3. Perfect

    Das hat mir wirklich leidgetan.

    I was really sorry about that.

  4. Future

    Das wird dir noch leidtun, glaub mir.

    You'll be sorry about that, believe me.

  5. Conditional

    Es würde mir leidtun, wenn du gehst.

    I'd be sorry if you left.

Good to know

  • Es tut mir leid is I'm sorry; the person who is sorry is in the dative: es tut ihm leid.
  • Du tust mir leid means I feel sorry for you.

Where you hear leidtun

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

German · Beginner Level 1

  • Es tut mir leid. I'm sorry.
  • Es hat mir leidgetan. I was sorry.
  • Es wird ihm leidtun. He'll be sorry.

German · Beginner Level 3

  • Es tut mir leid. I'm sorry.
  • Es hat mir leidgetan. I was sorry.
  • Es wird ihm leidtun. He'll be sorry.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: strong verb.