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fluentbyear

GERMAN VERB

tun

to do

  • #23 most used
  • Strong verb
  • Past participle: getan

Conjugation

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

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

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

Simple past

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

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

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

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

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

Imperative

Imperativ · requests and orders: du, ihr, Sie

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

How to use tun

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

  1. Present

    Was tust du heute Abend?

    What are you doing tonight?

  2. Simple past

    Er tat so, als ob er nichts hörte.

    He acted as if he didn't hear anything.

  3. Perfect

    Ich habe den ganzen Tag nichts getan.

    I did nothing all day.

  4. Future

    Ich werde alles tun, was ich kann.

    I'll do everything I can.

  5. Conditional

    Was würdest du an meiner Stelle tun?

    What would you do in my place?

  6. Imperative

    Tu mir einen Gefallen und ruf ihn an.

    Do me a favour and call him.

Good to know

  • Tun is doing in general; a task is usually machen: Hausaufgaben machen.
  • Es tut mir leid is "I'm sorry"; das tut weh is "that hurts".

Where you hear tun

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

German · Beginner Level 2

  • Was kann ich für Sie tun? What can I do for you?
  • Gestern habe ich nichts getan. Yesterday I did nothing.
  • Morgen tue ich das. Tomorrow I'll do that.

German · Intermediate Level 2

  • Was kann ich für Sie tun? What can I do for you?
  • Gestern habe ich nichts getan. Yesterday I did nothing.
  • Morgen tue ich das. Tomorrow I'll do that.
6
Opening an Account

Beginner Level 2 · Guten Tag. Was kann ich für Sie tun?

Needs a subscription 25
The Morning After

Intermediate Level 2 · Oh nein. Das tut mir leid.

Needs a subscription 4
At the Bank

Advanced Level 2 · Herr Becker. Was kann ich für Sie tun?

Needs a subscription 14
Writing the Narration

Advanced Level 3 · Was soll ich tun?

Needs a subscription 20
The Producer Worries

Fluency Level 2 · Stimmt. Was soll ich tun?

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Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: strong verb.