German Verb Conjugations: Tun (To Do)

Tenses and Moods

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Updated on January 31, 2019

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

Deutsch	English
Singular Present Tense
ich tue	I do I am doing
du tust	you 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 tun	we do we are doing
ihr tut	you (guys) do you are doing
sie tun	they do they are doing
Sie tun	you 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

Deutsch	English
Singular Simple Past Tense
ich tat	I did
du tatest	you did
er tat sie tat es tat	he did she did it did

Plural Simple Past Tense
wir taten	we did
ihr tatet	you (guys) did
sie taten	they did
Sie taten	you did

Tun - Compound Past Tense (Present Perfect) - Perfekt

Deutsch	English
Singular Compound Past Tense
ich habe getan	I have done I did
du hast getan	you 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 getan	we have done we did
ihr habt getan	you (guys) have done you did
sie haben getan	they have done they did
Sie haben getan	you have done you did

Tun - Past Perfect Tense - Plusquamperfekt

Deutsch	English
Singular Past Perfect Tense
ich hatte getan	I had done
du hattest getan	you 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 getan	we had done
ihr hattet getan	you (guys) had done
sie hatten getan	they had done
Sie hatten getan	you 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.

Deutsch	English
Singular Future Tense
ich werde tun	I will do
du wirst tun	you 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 tun	we will do
ihr werdet tun	you (guys) will do
sie werden tun	they will do
Sie werden tun	you will do

Tun - Future Perfect Tense - Futur II

Deutsch	English
Singular Future Perfect Tense
ich werde getan haben	I will have done
du wirst getan haben	you 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 haben	we will have done
ihr werdet getan haben	you (guys) will have done
sie werden getan haben	they will have done
Sie werden getan haben	you will have done

Tun - Commands - Imperativ

There are three command (imperative) forms, one for each "you" word. In addition, the "let's" form is used with wir.

Deutsch	English
(du) tue!	do
(ihr) tut!	do
tun Sie!	do
tun wir!	let's do

Tun - Subjunctive I - Konjunktiv I

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).

Deutsch	English
Singular
ich tue (würde tun)*	I do
du tuest	you 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 tuen	we do
ihr tuet	you (guys) do
sie tuen	they do
Sie tuen	you do

Tun Subjunctive II - Konjunktiv II

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.

Deutsch	English
Singular
ich täte	I would do
du tätest	you would do
er täte sie täte es täte	he would do she would do it would do

Plural
wir täten	we would do
ihr tätet	you (guys) would do
sie täten	they would do
Sie täten	you 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
Deutsch	English
er habe getan	he is said to have done
ich hätte getan	I would have done
sie hätten getan	they would have done

Future Time
Deutsch	English
er werde getan haben	he will have done
ich würde tun	I would do
du würdest getan haben	you would have done

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Flippo, Hyde. "German Verb Conjugations: Tun (To Do)." ThoughtCo, Sep. 2, 2021, thoughtco.com/german-verb-conjugations-tun-to-do-4070838. Flippo, Hyde. (2021, September 2). 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 September 26, 2022).