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fluentbyear

GERMAN VERB

retten

to rescue, to save

  • #259 most used
  • Weak verb
  • Past participle: gerettet

Conjugation

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

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

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

Simple past

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

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

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

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

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

Imperative

Imperativ · requests and orders: du, ihr, Sie

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

How to use retten

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

  1. Present

    Der Regen rettet die Ernte in diesem Jahr.

    The rain is saving the harvest this year.

  2. Simple past

    Die Feuerwehr rettete die Katze vom Dach.

    The fire brigade rescued the cat from the roof.

  3. Perfect

    Dein Anruf hat mir den Tag gerettet.

    Your call saved my day.

  4. Future

    Ein Regenschirm wird unser Picknick nicht retten.

    An umbrella won't save our picnic.

  5. Conditional

    Ein bisschen Salz würde die Suppe retten.

    A bit of salt would save the soup.

  6. Imperative

    Rette mir bitte einen Platz in der ersten Reihe!

    Save me a seat in the front row, please!

Good to know

  • Retten is to save a life or a situation, sparen to save money. Die Rettung is the rescue; der Rettungswagen, the ambulance.

Where you hear retten

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

German · Advanced Level 2

  • Wir retten die Familie. We're rescuing the family.
  • Die Feuerwehr hat die Familie gerettet. The fire brigade rescued the family.
  • Morgen retten wir die Tiere. Tomorrow we rescue the animals.
17
A Family on the Roof

Advanced Level 2 · Ja, mit zwei Kindern. Sie wurden gerettet. · Wie wurden sie gerettet?

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Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: weak verb.