How To Conjugate the German Verb ‘Dürfen’

In German, you can use the verb ‘dürfen’ to give or deny permission to do something. Its equivalent in English is therefore “may” or “allowed to”. We’ll give you an overview of the conjugation and show you a few other expressions for which you can use the German modal verb ‘dürfen’.

How to conjugate the German modal verb dürfen’

The verb ‘dürfen’ is among German’s irregular verbs with the forms “darf”, “durfte” and “gedurft”, using the auxiliary verb ‘haben’, as in “Wir haben gedurft” (We have been allowed). As in English, “dürfen” has an active flection and no passive voice. You can learn how to conjugate the verb ‘dürfen’ with the following overview.

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Indicative

PERSON	PRESENT	PAST	PERFECT
1st sing.	ich darf	ich durfte	ich habe gedurft
2nd sing.	du darfst	du durftest	du hast gedurft
3rd sing.	er/sie/es darf	er/sie/es durfte	er/sie/es hat gedurft
1st pl.	wir dürfen	wir durften	wir haben gedurft
2nd. pl.	ihr dürft	ihr durftet	ihr habt gedurft
3rd. pl	sie dürfen	sie durften	sie haben gedurft

Indicative with the past perfect, future and future perfect

PERSON	PAST PERFECT	FUTURE	FUTURE PERFECT
1st sing.	ich hatte gedurft	ich werde dürfen	ich werde gedurft haben
2nd sing.	du hattest gedurft	du wirst dürfen	du wirst gedurft haben
3rd sing.	er/sie/es hatte gedurft	er/sie/es wird dürfen	er/sie/es wird gedurft haben
1st pl.	wir hatten gedurft	wir werden dürfen	wir werden gedurft haben
2nd. pl.	ihr hattet gedurft	ihr werdet dürfen	ihr werdet gedurft haben
3rd. pl	sie hatten gedurft	sie werden dürfen	sie werden gedurft haben

Basic German verbs and conjugation

Subjunctive

PERSON	PRESENT SUBJ.	PAST SUBJ.	PERFECT SUBJ.
1st sing.	ich dürfe	ich dürfte	ich habe gedurft
2nd sing.	du düfest	du dürftest	du habest gedurft
3rd sing.	er/sie/es dürfe	er/sie/es dürfte	er/sie/es habe gedurft
1st pl.	wir dürfen	wir dürften	wir haben gedurft
2nd. pl.	ihr dürfet	ihr dürftet	ihr habet gedurft
3rd. pl	sie dürfen	sie dürften	sie haben gedurft

Subjunctive with the past perfect, future and future perfect

PERSON	PAST PERFECT SUBJ.	FUTURE SUBJ.	FUTURE PERFECT SUBJ.
1st sing.	ich hätte gedurft	ich würde können	ich würde gedurft haben
2nd sing.	du hättest gedurft	du würdest können	du würdest gedurft haben
3rd sing.	er/sie/es hätte gedurft	er/sie/es würde können	er/sie/es würde gedurft haben
1st pl.	wir hätten gedurft	wir würden können	wir würden gedurft haben
2nd. pl.	ihr hättet gedurft	ihr würdet können	ihr würdet gedurft haben
3rd. pl	sie hätten gedurft	sie würden können	sie würden gedurft haben

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Infinitive, participle and imperative

The infinitive forms of the verb in the present and perfect tense are “dürfen” and “gedurft haben”. The infinitive with ‘to’ is formed as “zu dürfen” and “gedurft zu haben”. The participle forms are “dürfend” in the present and “gedurft” in the perfect tense.

Since ‘dürfen’ is mainly used for giving or denying permission, there is no difference between the present tense and the imperative in conjugation:

1st person singular: “Ich darf!”
2nd person singular: “Du darfst!”
3rd person singular: “Er darf!”
1st person plural: “Wir dürfen!”
2nd person plural: “Ihr dürft!”
3rd person plural: “Sie dürfen!”

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Usage of ‘dürfen’ as a modal verb

In German, you’ll use ‘dürfen’ a lot to give permission or deny it through negation:

“Die Tochter darf die ganze Nacht fernsehen.” = The daughter is allowed to watch TV all night.
“Du darfst im Museum nicht fotografieren.” = “You may not take pictures in the museum.”
“Die Schüler dürfen eine Stunde früher gehen.” = “The pupils may leave an hour early.”
“Ihr dürft nicht so laut reden!” = “You must not talk so loudly!”

As with all German modal verbs, you can construct these phrases by using the conjugated form of ‘dürfen’ followed by another verb in the infinitive. If you want to deny permission, “nicht” for ‘not’ is placed directly after the conjugated modal verb.

You can also use ‘dürfen’ to voice a suspicion or belief. In this case, ‘dürfen’ expresses a high probability of something being right, correct or true.

“Der Baum dürfte 30 Meter hoch sein.” = The tree is likely to be 30 meters tall.
“Das dürfte Maria an der Tür sein.” = “That should be Maria at the door.”
“Sie dürften falsch liegen.” = They might be wrong.

The verb ‘dürfen’ is also a way of politely asking for permission to do something. The indicative form is already polite, while using the subjunctive is very formal:

“Darf ich Sie um etwas bitten?” = May I ask you for something?
“Dürfte ich Sie etwas fragen?” = Might I ask you something?

Do you want to learn more about German modal verbs? We’ll show you how to use and conjugate modal verbs in German!

Jakob Straub

Jakob is a freelance writer in Barcelona, Spain, and his favorite books have pages all empty. As an expert storyteller, he publishes creative fiction in English and German and helps other authors shape their manuscripts into compelling stories. Thanks to an expertise in a wide range of topics such as writing, literature and productivity to marketing, travel, and technology, he produces engaging content for his clients. Apart from the escape that books offer, Jakob enjoys traveling digital nomad style and stays active with climbing and hiking. Find out more about him on his website or on Goodreads.