Humanities › Languages German Verb Conjugations - Trinken - to Drink Present and Past Tenses Share Flipboard Email Print Dan Herrick/Lonely Planet Images/Getty Images Languages German Vocabulary Basics History & Culture Pronunciation & Conversation Grammar English as a Second Language Spanish French Italian Japanese Mandarin Russian English Grammar View More by Hyde Flippo Hyde Flippo taught the German language for 28 years at high school and college levels and published several books on the German language and culture. Updated January 30, 2019 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 • getrunkenImperative (Commands): (du) Trink! | (ihr) Trinkt! | Trinken Sie!Trinken - Present Tense - PräsensDeutschEnglishSingular Present Tense ich trinkeI drinkI am drinkingdu trinkstyou drinkyou are drinkinger trinkt sie trinkt es trinkthe drinkshe is drinkingshe drinksshe is drinkingit drinksit is drinking Plural Present Tense wir trinkenwe drinkwe are drinkingihr trinktyou (guys) drinkyou (guys) are drinkingsie trinkenthey drinkthey are drinkingSie trinkenyou drinkyou are drinkingExamples:Er trinkt kein Bier. He doesn't drink beer.Ich trinke lieber Wein. I prefer to drink wine.Trinken - Simple Past Tense - ImperfektDeutschEnglishSingular Simple Past Tense ich trankI drankdu trankstyou dranker tranksie trankes trankhe drankshe drankit drank Plural Simple Past Tense wir trankenwe drankihr tranktyou (guys) dranksie trankenthey drankSie trankenyou drank Trinken - Compound Past Tense (Present Perfect) - PerfektDeutschEnglishSingular Compound Past Tense ich habe getrunkenI have drunkI drankdu hast getrunkenyou have drunkyou dranker hat getrunken sie hat getrunken es hat getrunkenhe has drunkhe drankshe has drunkshe drankit has drunkit drank Plural Compound Past Tense wir haben getrunkenwe have drunkwe drankihr habt getrunkenyou (guys) have drunkyou dranksie haben getrunkenthey have drunkthey drankSie haben getrunkenyou have drunkyou drank Trinken - Past Perfect Tense - PlusquamperfektDeutschEnglishSingular Past Perfect Tense ich hatte getrunkenI had drunkdu hattest getrunkenyou had drunker hatte getrunkensie hatte getrunkenes hatte getrunkenhe had drunkshe had drunkit had drunk Plural Past Perfect Tense wir hatten getrunkenwe had drunkihr hattet getrunkenyou (guys) had drunksie hatten getrunkenthey had drunkSie hatten getrunkenyou had drunk Example Using TrinkenAccusative: Was will er trinken? What does he want to drink?Uses of the Root for NounsKnowing the different tenses of trinken, you can recognize how it is used in nouns for beverages.Getränke: beverages or drinksdas Getränk beverage, drinkder Getränkemarkt: beverage shop. Here you buy beverages such as beer, cola, or mineral water by the case. Supermarkets now usually have a similar department. Continue Reading