How to Conjugate "Kommen" (to Come)

In German, kommen means "to come." German students will find that a brief lesson in conjugating this verb will help you say phrases like ich kam for "I came" or err kommt for "he is coming." 

Verb conjugations are a good foundation for completing a sentence. For instance, to say "Are you coming tomorrow?" you would say "Du kommst morgen?" In this case, kommst is the present tense conjugate of kommen when the subject pronoun is you. With a little study and practice, it will all become clear to you.

Kommen in the Present Tense (Präsens)

We will begin studying kommen in the present tense (präsens). This is a strong (irregular) verb so it doesn't follow the typical conjugation rules you might find in other German verbs. That means that you will have to memorize all of its forms. However, since it is a very common word, you will have plenty of opportunities to practice it.

For example, you can take the verb forms you learn in the chart below to form sentences like these:

• Wann kommen Sie nach Berlin? - When are you coming to Berlin?
• Er kommt morgen Abend. - He's coming tomorrow evening. 

Kommen in the Simple Past Tense (Imperfekt)

With a good understanding of the present tense, you can then move onto the past tense (vergangenheit). Rather than just the singular and plural forms, you will have to memorize the various past tenses.

In its most basic form, you will use the simple past tense (imperfekt). This is the perfect place for German students to begin because you will use it often to say "came."

Kommen in the Compound Past Tense (Perfekt)

The compound past tense is also called the present perfect (perfekt). It is used when the action is not well-defined. This means that you acknowledge that it happened (something or someone "came"), but you're not specific about when it actually happened. It can also indicate that the action extends into the present moment, as in you "came" and are still "coming."

Kommen in the Past Perfect Tense (Plusquamperfekt)

The past perfect tense (plusquamperfekt) is used when the action of "coming" happened prior to another action. For instance, "I had come by the restaurant after leaving school."