Skip to content
fluentbyear

GERMAN VERB

unterscheiden

to distinguish

  • #481 most used
  • Strong verb
  • Past participle: unterschieden

Conjugation

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

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

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

Simple past

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

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

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

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

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

Imperative

Imperativ · requests and orders: du, ihr, Sie

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

How to use unterscheiden

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

  1. Present

    Ich unterscheide die Zwillinge nur an der Stimme.

    I can only tell the twins apart by their voice.

  2. Simple past

    Früher unterschied ich Dialekte gar nicht.

    I used not to tell dialects apart at all.

  3. Perfect

    Die Jury hat kaum zwischen den beiden unterschieden.

    The jury hardly distinguished between the two.

  4. Future

    Bald wirst du die Weine gut unterscheiden können.

    Soon you'll be able to tell the wines apart.

  5. Conditional

    Ich würde zwischen Freunden und Kollegen unterscheiden.

    I'd distinguish between friends and colleagues.

  6. Imperative

    Unterscheide bitte zwischen Meinung und Fakten.

    Please distinguish between opinion and facts.

Good to know

  • Sich unterscheiden von is to differ from: die beiden unterscheiden sich kaum.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: strong verb.