How to Conjugate "Geben" (to Give) in German

The German verb geben means "to give" and it's a word that you will use quite often. In order to say "I am giving" or "she gave," the verb needs to be conjugated to match the tense of your sentence. With a quick German lesson, you'll understand how to conjugate geben into the present and past tenses.

An Introduction to the Verb Geben

While many German verbs follow common rules that help you make the appropriate changes to the infinitive form, gebben is a bit more of a challenge. It does not follow any patterns because it is both a stem-changing verb and an irregular (strong) verb. This means that you will need to carefully study all of its verb forms.

Principal Parts: geben (gibt) - gab - gegeben

Past Participle: gegeben

Imperative (Commands): (du) Gib! (ihr) Gebt! Geben Sie!

Geben in the Present Tense (Präsens)

The present tense (präsens) of geben will be used anytime you want to say that the action of "giving" is happening right now. It's the most common use of the verb, so it's best to familiarize yourself with these forms before moving on.

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You will notice the change from "e" to "i" in the du and er/sie/es present tense forms. This is the stem change that can make this word a little trickier to memorize.

As you're learning the forms of geben, use it to create sentences such as these to make memorizing them a little easier.

• Bitte gib mir das! - Please give me that.
• Wir geben ihm das Geld. - We're giving him the money.

Geben is used in the idiom es gibt (there is/there are).

Geben in the Simple Past Tense (Imperfekt)

In the past tense (vergangenheit), geben has a few different forms. Among those, the most common is the simple past tense (imperfekt). This is the easiest way to say "I gave" or "you gave."

Geben is used in the idiom es gab (there was/there were).

Geben in the Compound Past Tense (Perfekt)

Also called the present perfect past tense (perfekt), the compound past tense is not used as often as the simple past, though it is useful to know.

You will use this form of geben when the action of giving did happen in the past, but you're not specific about when that was. In some contexts, it can also be used to imply that the "giving" did and continues to occur. For instance, "I have given to the charity for years."

Geben in the Past Perfect Tense (Plusquamperfekt)

When using the past perfect tense (plusquamperfekt), you are indicating that the action occurred after something else did. An example of this may be, "I had given to the charity after the tornado came through town."