Weinen Conjugation in German

weinen means “to cry” in English, and it is one of the first verbs German learners meet — it sits at number 105 in VerbFlow’s frequency list for German verbs. You use it whenever you talk about crying with joy, and because it comes up in everyday conversation so often, learning its forms properly pays off from the very first week. This page gives you the complete conjugation of weinen — every tense, every person, both participles and the infinitive — with notes, examples, common mistakes and a quiz. Here is the verb in a natural sentence: “Ich weine vor Freude jeden Tag.” — “I cry with joy every day.”

Quick facts

  • Infinitive: weinen
  • English: to cry
  • Verb type: Regular
  • Irregular in: none — regular in every tense
  • Pattern: weak
  • Separable: no
  • Participle I: weinend
  • Past participle (Partizip II): geweint
  • Auxiliary: haben (all perfect tenses are formed with haben + the past participle)

Pronunciation

Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for weinen, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one. Learn the spelling of the forms first, and listen to a native speaker for the sounds rather than trusting an invented transcription. The forms below are the ones that matter: once you can read weinen in every tense, you can recognise it in speech even before you can pronounce every form perfectly.

Three things to remember about weinen

  1. It is regular: every form follows the ordinary weak pattern, so once you know the stem you can build the whole table. The only work is learning the endings, not memorising exceptions.
  2. The perfect tenses use haben: the perfect is formed with haben in the present plus the past participle geweint. The tables on this page give the participle in the uninflected form, exactly as it appears in the verified dump; agreement with the subject is a separate step that depends on the sentence, not on the verb table.
  3. Partizip I is weinend and Partizip II is geweint: keep both in mind as you read the tables, because Partizip I appears in adjectival uses and Partizip II appears in every perfect tense. If you know those two forms and the present tense, you already know the skeleton of the whole conjugation.

Full conjugation tables

Every form below comes from VerbFlow’s verified conjugation tables for weinen. Learn the present tense first, then the Perfekt and the preterite, and add the remaining tenses one at a time.

Present (Präsens)

Person Form
ich weine
du weinst
er/sie/es weint
wir weinen
ihr weint
sie/Sie weinen

The present (Präsens) is used for habits, facts and things happening now. For example: “Ich weine wegen des traurigen Films jeden Tag.” — “I cry because of the sad film every day.”

Preterite (Präteritum)

Person Form
ich weinte
du weintest
er/sie/es weinte
wir weinten
ihr weintet
sie/Sie weinten

The preterite (Präteritum) is used for completed actions in the past, mostly in written German and in stories. For example: “Du weintest wegen des traurigen Films gestern.” — “You cried because of the sad film yesterday.”

Perfect (Perfekt)

Person Form
ich habe geweint
du hast geweint
er/sie/es hat geweint
wir haben geweint
ihr habt geweint
sie/Sie haben geweint

The perfect (Perfekt) is used for completed actions in the past, especially in spoken German. For example: “Er hat wegen des traurigen Films geweint gestern.” — “He has cried because of the sad film yesterday.”

Pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt)

Person Form
ich hatte geweint
du hattest geweint
er/sie/es hatte geweint
wir hatten geweint
ihr hattet geweint
sie/Sie hatten geweint

The pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt) is used for an action completed before another past action. For example: “Wir hatten wegen des traurigen Films geweint vor der Party.” — “We had cried because of the sad film before the party.”

Future (Futur I)

Person Form
ich werde weinen
du wirst weinen
er/sie/es wird weinen
wir werden weinen
ihr werdet weinen
sie/Sie werden weinen

The future (Futur I) is used for what will happen, for predictions and for probability. For example: “Ich werde wegen des traurigen Films weinen morgen.” — “I will cry because of the sad film tomorrow.”

Future perfect (Futur II)

Person Form
ich werde geweint haben
du wirst geweint haben
er/sie/es wird geweint haben
wir werden geweint haben
ihr werdet geweint haben
sie/Sie werden geweint haben

The future perfect (Futur II) is used for what will have happened by a point in the future. For example: “Du wirst wegen des traurigen Films geweint haben bis morgen.” — “You will have cried because of the sad film by tomorrow.”

Konjunktiv I

Person Form
ich weine
du weinest
er/sie/es weine
wir weinen
ihr weinet
sie/Sie weinen

Konjunktiv I is used for reported speech and indirect quotation. For example: “Es ist wichtig, dass er weine wegen des traurigen Films.” — “It is important that he cry because of the sad film.”

Konjunktiv II

Person Form
ich weinte
du weintest
er/sie/es weinte
wir weinten
ihr weintet
sie/Sie weinten

Konjunktiv II is used for wishes, hypothetical situations and polite requests. It doubles as the conditional: there is no separate würde tense in the tables, and the periphrastic alternative with würde plus the infinitive is a way of expressing the same meaning, not a tense of its own. For example: “Ich weinte wegen des traurigen Films eines Tages.” — “I would cry because of the sad film one day.”

Conditional perfect

Person Form
ich hätte geweint
du hättest geweint
er/sie/es hätte geweint
wir hätten geweint
ihr hättet geweint
sie/Sie hätten geweint

The conditional perfect is used for what would have happened in a different past. For example: “Er hätte wegen des traurigen Films geweint gestern.” — “He would have cried because of the sad film yesterday.”

Imperative

Person Form
du wein
wir weinen
ihr weint
sie weinen

The imperative is used for direct commands and instructions. For example: “Wein wegen des traurigen Films!” — “Cry because of the sad film!”

Present participle (Partizip I)

Form German
Present participle weinend

The present participle (Partizip I) is used as an adjective and for describing an action in progress. For example, the participle weinend describes something that is crying. The present-tense sentence “Ich weine vor Freude jeden Tag.” — “I cry with joy every day.” shows the same verb in action.

Past participle (Partizip II)

Form German
Past participle geweint

The past participle (Partizip II) is used with an auxiliary to form the perfect tenses, and as an adjective. For example: “Ich habe vor Freude geweint gestern.” — “I have cried with joy yesterday.”

Infinitive

Form German
Infinitive weinen

The infinitive is the dictionary form of the verb, used after modal verbs and in infinitive constructions. The infinitive weinen is the form you look up in a dictionary. In a sentence it appears after a modal verb or with zu, and in the future it follows werden, as in “Ich werde vor Freude weinen morgen.” — “I will cry with joy tomorrow.”

Example sentences

Ten natural sentences with weinen, covering different tenses and persons. Say each one aloud, then cover the German and try to produce it from the English.

  1. “Ich weine vor Freude jeden Tag.” — “I cry with joy every day.”
  2. “Du weintest wegen des traurigen Films gestern.” — “You cried because of the sad film yesterday.”
  3. “Er hat aus Glück geweint gestern.” — “He has cried with happiness yesterday.”
  4. “Wir hatten vor Freude geweint vor der Party.” — “We had cried with joy before the party.”
  5. “Ich werde wegen des traurigen Films weinen morgen.” — “I will cry because of the sad film tomorrow.”
  6. “Du wirst aus Glück geweint haben bis morgen.” — “You will have cried with happiness by tomorrow.”
  7. “Es ist wichtig, dass er weine vor Freude.” — “It is important that he cry with joy.”
  8. “Ich weinte wegen des traurigen Films eines Tages.” — “I would cry because of the sad film one day.”
  9. “Er hätte aus Glück geweint gestern.” — “He would have cried with happiness yesterday.”
  10. “Wein vor Freude!” — “Cry with joy!”

Common mistakes

1. Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form

✗ Wrong: “Ich weinen vor Freude.”

✓ Right: “Ich weine vor Freude.”

The infinitive weinen never takes a subject. After ich you need the conjugated present form weine.

2. Using the wrong person’s form

✗ Wrong: “Ich weinen vor Freude.”

✓ Right: “Ich weine vor Freude.”

weinen is the sie form, not the ich form. Match the verb to the subject every time: ich goes with weine.

3. Using the present for a finished past action

✗ Wrong: “Ich weine vor Freude gestern.”

✓ Right: “Ich habe vor Freude geweint gestern.”

The time word gestern points to the past, so a finished action needs the Perfekt habe geweint, not the present.

4. Using the indicative after a subjunctive trigger

✗ Wrong: “Es ist wichtig, dass ich weine vor Freude.”

✓ Right: “Es ist wichtig, dass ich weine vor Freude.”

After es ist wichtig, dass German needs Konjunktiv I, so use weine here, not the indicative weine.

5. Using the wrong auxiliary in the Perfekt

✗ Wrong: “Ich bin geweint vor Freude.”

✓ Right: “habe geweint vor Freude.”

The Perfekt of weinen is formed with haben plus the past participle geweint: the ich form is habe geweint. Check the auxiliary in the table above before you build a perfect tense.

6. Using the preterite for a daily habit

✗ Wrong: “Ich weinte vor Freude jeden Tag.”

✓ Right: “Ich weine vor Freude jeden Tag.”

The preterite weinte describes a past action. For something you do every day, use the present weine.

Quiz: test yourself

Ten questions on weinen. Choose the right form, then check the answer key below.

  1. What is the ich form of weinen in the Present (Präsens)?

    • A) weine
    • B) weinst
    • C) weint
    • D) weinen

  2. What is the du form of weinen in the Preterite (Präteritum)?

    • A) weintet
    • B) weintest
    • C) weinte
    • D) weinten

  3. What is the er/sie/es form of weinen in the Perfect (Perfekt)?

    • A) hat geweint
    • B) habe geweint
    • C) hast geweint
    • D) haben geweint

  4. What is the wir form of weinen in the Pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt)?

    • A) hattet geweint
    • B) hatten geweint
    • C) hatte geweint
    • D) hattest geweint

  5. What is the du form of weinen in the Future (Futur I)?

    • A) werden weinen
    • B) wirst weinen
    • C) werde weinen
    • D) wird weinen

  6. What is the ich form of weinen in the Future perfect (Futur II)?

    • A) werde geweint haben
    • B) wirst geweint haben
    • C) wird geweint haben
    • D) werden geweint haben

  7. What is the er/sie/es form of weinen in the Konjunktiv I?

    • A) weine
    • B) weinest
    • C) weinen
    • D) weinet

  8. What is the ich form of weinen in the Konjunktiv II?

    • A) weinte
    • B) weintest
    • C) weinten
    • D) weintet

  9. What is the present participle (Partizip I) of weinen?

    • A) schreiend
    • B) flüsternd
    • C) weinend
    • D) lächelnd

  10. What does weinen mean in English?

  • A) to smile
  • B) to shout
  • C) to whisper
  • D) to cry

Answer key

  1. A) weine — the ich form of weinen in the Present (Präsens) is weine. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  2. B) weintest — the du form of weinen in the Preterite (Präteritum) is weintest. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  3. A) hat geweint — the er/sie/es form of weinen in the Perfect (Perfekt) is hat geweint. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  4. B) hatten geweint — the wir form of weinen in the Pluperfect (Plusquamperfekt) is hatten geweint. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  5. B) wirst weinen — the du form of weinen in the Future (Futur I) is wirst weinen. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  6. A) werde geweint haben — the ich form of weinen in the Future perfect (Futur II) is werde geweint haben. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  7. A) weine — the er/sie/es form of weinen in the Konjunktiv I is weine. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  8. A) weinte — the ich form of weinen in the Konjunktiv II is weinte. The other options are other forms of the same verb.
  9. C) weinend — the present participle (Partizip I) of weinen is weinend. The other options are the participles of neighbouring verbs.
  10. D) to cry — weinen means “to cry” in English. The other options are the meanings of neighbouring verbs.

Frequently asked questions

What does weinen mean in English?

weinen means “to cry”. It is a core everyday verb, so its present-tense forms are worth learning first.

Is weinen regular or irregular?

weinen is regular: it follows the ordinary weak pattern in every tense. Partizip I is weinend and Partizip II is geweint.

What are the participles of weinen?

Partizip I is weinend — use it as an adjective. Partizip II is geweint — use it with haben for the perfect tenses, as in habe geweint.

Which auxiliary does weinen take in the Perfekt?

weinen takes haben in the Perfekt: the ich form is habe geweint. All four perfect tenses on this page are built with haben plus the past participle geweint.

How do I say “I cry” in German?

Say “Ich weine vor Freude jeden Tag.” — “I cry with joy every day.” The ich form of the present is weine, and it is the form you will use most often.

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