Languages › German German Verb Conjugations: Tun (To Do) Tenses and Moods Share Flipboard Email Print Oliver Rossi/Taxi/Getty Images German Vocabulary History & Culture Pronunciation & Conversation Grammar By Hyde Flippo German Expert 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. our editorial process Hyde Flippo Updated 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 doI am doing du tust you do you are doing er tutsie tutes 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 dothey 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 tatsie tates 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 getansie hat getanes 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 doneyou 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 getansie hatte getanes 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 tunsie wird tunes 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 habensie wird getan habenes 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 tuesie tuees 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 tätesie tätees 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 Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Flippo, Hyde. "German Verb Conjugations: Tun (To Do)." ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, thoughtco.com/german-verb-conjugations-tun-to-do-4070838. Flippo, Hyde. (2020, August 27). 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 April 13, 2021). copy citation