German Verb Conjugations: Tun (To Do)

Tenses and Moods

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by Hyde Flippo
Updated April 26, 2018

 The German verb tun means to do. It is a strong (irregular) verb. Its past tense forms tat and getan are irregular. Note how this verb follows the vowel pattern u-a-a in the past.

  • Principal Parts:  tun   tat   getan
  • Imperative (Commands): (du) Tue! | (ihr) Tut! | Tun Sie!  

Tun - Present Tense - Präsens

DeutschEnglish
Singular Present Tense
ich tueI do
I am doing
du tustyou do
you are doing
er tut
 
sie tut
 
es tut		he does
he is doing
she does
she is doing
it does
it is doing
Plural Present Tense
wir tunwe do
we are doing
ihr tutyou (guys) do
you are doing
sie tunthey do
they are doing
Sie tunyou do
you are doing
Examples:
Wir wollen das morgen tun.
We want to do that tomorrow.
Was tust du jetzt?
What are you doing now?

 

Tun - Simple Past Tense - Imperfekt

DeutschEnglish
Singular Simple Past Tense
ich tatI did
du tatestyou did
er tat
sie tat
es tat		he did
she did
it did
Plural Simple Past Tense
wir tatenwe did
ihr tatetyou (guys) did
sie tatenthey did
Sie tatenyou did

 

Tun - Compound Past Tense (Present Perfect) - Perfekt

DeutschEnglish
Singular Compound Past Tense
ich habe getanI have done
I did
du hast getanyou have done
you did
er hat getan
 
sie hat getan
 
es hat getan		he has done
he did
she has done
she did
it has done
it did
Plural Compound Past Tense
wir haben getanwe have done
we did
ihr habt getanyou (guys) have done
you did
sie haben getanthey have done
they did
Sie haben getanyou have done
you did

 

Tun - Past Perfect Tense - Plusquamperfekt

DeutschEnglish
Singular Past Perfect Tense
ich hatte getanI had done
du hattest getanyou had done
er hatte getan
sie hatte getan
es hatte getan		he had done
she had done
it had done
Plural Past Perfect Tense
wir hatten getanwe had done
ihr hattet getanyou (guys) had done
sie hatten getanthey had done
Sie hatten getanyou had done

 

Tun - Future Tense - Futur

The future tense is used much less in German than in English. Very often the present tense is used with an adverb instead, as with the present progressive in English: Er ruft morgen an. = He's going to call tomorrow.

DeutschEnglish
Singular Future Tense
ich werde tunI will do
du wirst tunyou will do
er wird tun
sie wird tun
es wird tun		he will do
she will do
it will do
Plural Future Tense
wir werden tunwe will do
ihr werdet tunyou (guys) will do
sie werden tunthey will do
Sie werden tunyou will do

 

Tun - Future Perfect  Tense - Futur II

DeutschEnglish
Singular Future Perfect Tense
ich werde getan habenI will have done
du wirst getan habenyou will have done
er wird getan haben
sie wird getan haben
es wird getan haben		he will have done
she will have done
it will have done
Plural Future Perfect Tense
wir werden getan habenwe will have done
ihr werdet getan habenyou (guys) will have done
sie werden getan habenthey will have done
Sie werden getan habenyou will have done

 

Tun -  Commands - Imperativ

DeutschEnglish
There are three command (imperative) forms, one for each "you" word. In addition, the "let's" form is used with wir.
(du) tue!do
(ihr) tut!do
tun Sie!do
tun wir!let's do

 

Tun -  Subjunctive I - Konjunktiv I

DeutschEnglish
The subjunctive is a mood, not a tense. The Subjunctive I (Konjunktiv I) is based on the infinitive form of the verb. It is most often used to express indirect quotation (indirekte Rede). Rare in conversational use, the Subjunctive I is often seen in newspapers, usually in the third person (er tue, he is said to do).
Singular
ich tue (würde tun)*I do
du tuestyou do
er tue
sie tue
es tue		he does
she does
it does
Because the Subjunctive I (Konjunktiv I) of "tun" in the first person (ich) is identical to the indicative (normal) form, the Subjunctive II is sometimes substituted.
Plural
wir tuenwe do
ihr tuetyou (guys) do
sie tuenthey do
Sie tuenyou do

 

Tun Subjunctive II - Konjunktiv II

DeutschEnglish
The Subjunctive II (Konjunktiv II) expresses wishful thinking, contrary-to-reality situations and is used to express politeness. The Subjunctive II is based on the simple past tense (Imperfekt, tat), adding an umlaut: täte.
Singular
ich täteI would do
du tätestyou would do
er täte
sie täte
es täte		he would do
she would do
it would do
Plural
wir tätenwe would do
ihr tätetyou (guys) would do
sie tätenthey would do
Sie tätenyou would do
Since the Subjunctive is a mood and not a tense, it can be used in various tenses. Below are examples that illustrate how tun forms the subjunctive in past or future time. In such cases, the subjunctive forms of haben or werden are combined with tun.
Past Time
DeutschEnglish
er habe getanhe is said to have done
ich hätte getanI would have done
sie hätten getanthey would have done
Future Time
DeutschEnglish
er werde getan habenhe will have done
ich würde tunI would do
du würdest getan habenyou would have done
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Your Citation
Flippo, Hyde. "German Verb Conjugations: Tun (To Do)." ThoughtCo, Apr. 26, 2018, thoughtco.com/german-verb-conjugations-tun-to-do-4070838. Flippo, Hyde. (2018, April 26). German Verb Conjugations: Tun (To Do). Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/german-verb-conjugations-tun-to-do-4070838 Flippo, Hyde. "German Verb Conjugations: Tun (To Do)." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/german-verb-conjugations-tun-to-do-4070838 (accessed May 23, 2018).