German Verb Conjugations - Trinken - to Drink

The verb trinken is a strong (irregular) verb meaning "to drink." It is a very handy verb to know for traveling to German-speaking countries, or even just singing German drinking songs.

As an irregular verb, you can't predict how it is conjugated by a strict rule. You will need to study and memorize its forms. Note that its German principal parts follow the same i/a/u pattern of English (drink/drank/drunk).

This is the ablaut Class 3a i - a - u pattern. It is shared with other strong verbs including binden (tie), dringen (press), finden (find) and singen (sing).

• Principal Parts: trinken • trank • getrunken
• Imperative (Commands): (du) Trink! | (ihr) Trinkt! | Trinken Sie!

Trinken -  Present Tense - Präsens
Deutsch	English
Singular Present Tense
ich trinke	I drink I am drinking
du trinkst	you drink you are drinking
er trinkt   sie trinkt   es trinkt	he drinks he is drinking she drinks she is drinking it drinks it is drinking
Plural Present Tense
wir trinken	we drink we are drinking
ihr trinkt	you (guys) drink you (guys) are drinking
sie trinken	they drink they are drinking
Sie trinken	you drink you are drinking
Examples: Er trinkt kein Bier. He doesn't drink beer. Ich trinke lieber Wein. I prefer to drink wine.

 

Trinken - Simple Past Tense - Imperfekt
Deutsch	English
Singular Simple Past Tense
ich trank	I drank
du trankst	you drank
er trank sie trank es trank	he drank she drank it drank
Plural Simple Past Tense
wir tranken	we drank
ihr trankt	you (guys) drank
sie tranken	they drank
Sie tranken	you drank

 

Trinken - Compound Past Tense (Present Perfect) - Perfekt
Deutsch	English
Singular Compound Past Tense
ich habe getrunken	I have drunk I drank
du hast getrunken	you have drunk you drank
er hat getrunken   sie hat getrunken   es hat getrunken	he has drunk he drank she has drunk she drank it has drunk it drank
Plural Compound Past Tense
wir haben getrunken	we have drunk we drank
ihr habt getrunken	you (guys) have drunk you drank
sie haben getrunken	they have drunk they drank
Sie haben getrunken	you have drunk you drank

 

Trinken - Past Perfect Tense - Plusquamperfekt
Deutsch	English
Singular Past Perfect Tense
ich hatte getrunken	I had drunk
du hattest getrunken	you had drunk
er hatte getrunken sie hatte getrunken es hatte getrunken	he had drunk she had drunk it had drunk
Plural Past Perfect Tense
wir hatten getrunken	we had drunk
ihr hattet getrunken	you (guys) had drunk
sie hatten getrunken	they had drunk
Sie hatten getrunken	you had drunk

Example Using Trinken

• Accusative: Was will er trinken? What does he want to drink?

Uses of the Root for Nouns

Knowing the different tenses of trinken, you can recognize how it is used in nouns for beverages.

• Getränke: beverages or drinks
• das Getränk beverage, drink
• der Getränkemarkt: beverage shop. Here you buy beverages such as beer, cola, or mineral water by the case. Supermarkets now usually have a similar department.

If you want to look at other irregular verbs in the simple past and present perfect, see our German Strong Verbs pages.