The idea
Present tense: ich senke, du senkst, er/sie/es senkt, wir senken, ihr senkt, sie/Sie senken. Learn the sentence pattern etwas senken together with the principal parts.
| Form | Deutsch |
|---|---|
| ich | senke |
| du | senkst |
| er/sie/es | senkt |
| wir | senken |
| ihr | senkt |
| sie/Sie | senken |
| Präteritum | senkte |
| Perfekt | hat gesenkt |
| Imperativ (du) | Senke! |
| Muster | etwas senken |
Meaning and sentence pattern
Senken is transitive: someone lowers something. Sinken describes the thing itself moving down and has strong forms.
Learn this pattern as a unit: etwas senken. The six situations below show the verb with concrete objects, complements or circumstances.
Form check
Die Firma hat die Preise gesunken.Die Firma hat die Preise gesenkt.Lowering an object uses senken/gesenkt; the prices themselves can sinken, with the perfect sind gesunken.
Examples
- Ich senke die Lautstärke während der Ansage.I lower the volume during the announcement.
- Du senkst den Blick auf deine Notizen.You lower your gaze to your notes.
- Die Stadt senkt den Bordstein am Übergang.The city lowers the curb at the crossing.
- Wir senkten die Bühne für den Transport ab.We lowered the stage for transport.
- Das Team hat den Energieverbrauch deutlich gesenkt.The team has significantly reduced energy consumption.
- Senke die Temperatur am Gerät um eine Stufe.Lower the temperature on the device by one setting.
Read-aloud uses a synthetic German voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.
No German device voice is available. You can still read the text and use the linked listening resources.
Watch out
Lowering an object uses senken/gesenkt; the prices themselves can sinken, with the perfect sind gesunken.
Try it yourself
du ___ (senken, Präsens)
Show answer or example answer
senkst
senkst: this is the second-person singular present form.
er/sie ___ (senken, Präteritum)
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senkte
senkte: this is the third-person singular simple past.
Perfekt: er/sie hat ___
Show answer or example answer
gesenkt
gesenkt: in this use the perfect tense is hat gesenkt.
Practice round
Answer three questions, then rebuild three German sentences. We keep your score.
du ___ (senken, Präsens)
er/sie ___ (senken, Präteritum)
Perfekt: er/sie hat ___
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
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Read the six situations aloud, compare the verb forms, and complete the present, past and participle checks. Then write a new sentence that follows etwas senken.