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GERMAN VERB

zunehmen

to increase; to put on weight

  • #314 most used
  • Strong verb
  • Past participle: zugenommen

Conjugation

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

Present

Präsens · now, habits and facts

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

Simple past

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

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

Perfect

Perfekt · the past of speech: “habe gemacht”

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

Future

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

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

Conditional

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

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

Imperative

Imperativ · requests and orders: du, ihr, Sie

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

How to use zunehmen

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

  1. Present

    Im Winter nehme ich immer ein bisschen zu.

    In winter I always put on a little weight.

  2. Simple past

    Der Verkehr nahm jedes Jahr zu.

    The traffic increased every year.

  3. Perfect

    Ich habe im Urlaub drei Kilo zugenommen.

    I put on three kilos on holiday.

  4. Future

    Der Wind wird am Abend zunehmen.

    The wind will pick up in the evening.

  5. Conditional

    Ohne Sport würde ich schnell zunehmen.

    Without exercise I would quickly put on weight.

  6. Imperative

    Nimm ruhig ein bisschen zu, du bist zu dünn.

    Go ahead and gain a little weight, you're too thin.

Good to know

  • Zunehmen with no object is to put on weight: ich habe zugenommen.

Verbs like this one

The same pattern, on other verbs: strong verb.