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fluentbyear

GERMAN VERB

raten

to guess; to advise

  • #493 most used
  • Strong verb
  • Past participle: geraten

Conjugation

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

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

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

Simple past

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

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

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

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

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

Imperative

Imperativ · requests and orders: du, ihr, Sie

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

How to use raten

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

  1. Present

    Ich rate dir, den Zug um acht zu nehmen.

    I advise you to take the eight o'clock train.

  2. Simple past

    Der Arzt riet ihr zu mehr Schlaf.

    The doctor advised her to get more sleep.

  3. Perfect

    Du hast richtig geraten, es ist ein Junge!

    You guessed right, it's a boy!

  4. Future

    Du wirst es nie raten, also sage ich es.

    You'll never guess, so I'll tell you.

  5. Conditional

    Ich würde dir zu der blauen Jacke raten.

    I'd advise you to go for the blue jacket.

  6. Imperative

    Rat mal, wen ich heute getroffen habe!

    Guess who I met today!

Good to know

  • Rate mal! is guess what!; jemandem raten is to advise someone: ich rate dir, früh zu gehen.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: strong verb.