Suchen ("to look for / to search") is a high-frequency weak verb whose chief difficulty for English speakers is hidden in plain sight: English "look for" and "search for" come with a preposition, but German suchen most often takes a bare accusative object — Ich suche meinen Schlüssel ("I'm looking for my key"). There is no word for "for." The verb is otherwise perfectly regular and takes haben, and it heads a useful prefix family: besuchen ("to visit") and versuchen ("to try").
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Präteritum | Partizip II (auxiliary) |
|---|---|---|
| suchen | suchte | gesucht (hat) |
Read this as suchen – suchte – hat gesucht. Stem such-, weak past suchte, standard weak participle gesucht, auxiliary haben. No vowel change. See the weak participle.
Government: accusative object (no "for")
This is the headline. To "look for" or "search for" something, German uses suchen + a direct object in the accusative, with no preposition.
| Pattern | Meaning |
|---|---|
| etwas / jemanden suchen | to look for something / someone (accusative) |
| nach etwas suchen | to search for / be in search of something (nach + dative) |
| suchen + Inf. mit zu | to seek / endeavour to do (literary) |
Ich suche meinen Hausschlüssel — hast du ihn irgendwo gesehen?
I'm looking for my house key — have you seen it anywhere? (meinen Schlüssel = accusative, no 'for') (informal)
Wir suchen dringend eine größere Wohnung.
We're urgently looking for a bigger apartment. (eine Wohnung = accusative)
There is a second, near-synonymous construction, suchen nach + dative, which leans toward a more drawn-out or abstract search — searching for a solution, the truth, the right words, or rummaging for something. With a concrete object you can usually drop nach; with abstract goals nach is common. See dative prepositions.
Die Polizei sucht noch nach Zeugen des Unfalls.
The police are still searching for witnesses to the accident. (suchen nach + dative; ongoing, investigative)
Er suchte vergeblich nach den richtigen Worten.
He searched in vain for the right words. (abstract goal → suchen nach) (literary register)
The prefix family: besuchen, versuchen
| Verb | Prefix type | Meaning | Participle |
|---|---|---|---|
| suchen | — | to look for | gesucht |
| besuchen | inseparable (be-) | to visit | besucht |
| versuchen | inseparable (ver-) | to try / attempt | versucht |
Both besuchen and versuchen are inseparable, so they never split and form their participles without an extra ge-: besucht, versucht — never "gebesucht" or "geversucht." Despite the shared root, neither means "search": besuchen is "to visit" (a person, a city, a museum), versuchen is "to try." See besuchen and versuchen.
Am Wochenende besuchen wir meine Großeltern in Bremen.
On the weekend we're visiting my grandparents in Bremen. (besuchen = to visit, not to search) (informal)
Präsens (present)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | suche |
| du | suchst |
| er / sie / es | sucht |
| wir | suchen |
| ihr | sucht |
| sie / Sie | suchen |
Fully regular. Since German has no progressive, ich suche means both "I look for" and "I am looking for"; the searching-right-now reading is the most common in conversation.
Was suchst du denn so verzweifelt?
What on earth are you looking for so desperately? (informal; denn softens the question)
Präteritum (simple past)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | suchte |
| du | suchtest |
| er / sie / es | suchte |
| wir | suchten |
| ihr | suchtet |
| sie / Sie | suchten |
In speech, the Perfekt is preferred; the Präteritum suchte belongs to narration and writing.
Stundenlang suchten sie den Wald nach dem vermissten Kind ab.
For hours they searched the woods for the missing child. (separable absuchen: ab at the end; narrative Präteritum)
Perfekt (present perfect)
Built with the present of haben plus the participle gesucht.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | habe gesucht |
| du | hast gesucht |
| er / sie / es | hat gesucht |
| wir | haben gesucht |
| ihr | habt gesucht |
| sie / Sie | haben gesucht |
Ich habe dich überall gesucht — wo warst du?
I looked for you everywhere — where were you? (dich = accusative; auxiliary haben) (informal)
Plusquamperfekt (past perfect)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | hatte gesucht |
| du | hattest gesucht |
| er / sie / es | hatte gesucht |
| wir | hatten gesucht |
| ihr | hattet gesucht |
| sie / Sie | hatten gesucht |
Sie hatte das Dokument schon überall gesucht, bevor es im Drucker auftauchte.
She had already searched everywhere for the document before it turned up in the printer.
Futur I
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | werde suchen |
| du | wirst suchen |
| er / sie / es | wird suchen |
| wir | werden suchen |
| ihr | werdet suchen |
| sie / Sie | werden suchen |
Wenn das so weitergeht, werde ich mir einen neuen Job suchen.
If this keeps up, I'm going to look for a new job. (mir = dative reflexive of interest)
Konjunktiv II (would look for)
Weak verb, so synthetic suchte coincides with the Präteritum; the würde-form is preferred in speech.
| Person | würde-form | synthetic |
|---|---|---|
| ich | würde suchen | suchte |
| du | würdest suchen | suchtest |
| er / sie / es | würde suchen | suchte |
| wir | würden suchen | suchten |
| ihr | würdet suchen | suchtet |
| sie / Sie | würden suchen | suchten |
An deiner Stelle würde ich mir lieber einen ruhigeren Platz suchen.
If I were you, I'd look for a quieter spot instead. (würde-form preferred for weak verbs) (informal)
Imperativ
| Addressee | Form |
|---|---|
| du | such(e) |
| ihr | sucht |
| Sie | suchen Sie |
Such mal in der zweiten Schublade, da liegt er meistens.
Have a look in the second drawer, that's usually where it is. (informal du-command)
Idioms and fixed expressions
| Expression | English |
|---|---|
| Du hast hier nichts zu suchen. | You have no business being here. (informal, sharp) |
| seinesgleichen suchen | to be unrivalled (lit. to seek its like) (literary) |
| Streit suchen | to be looking for a fight / to pick a quarrel |
| Wer suchet, der findet. | Seek and you shall find. (proverb; archaic -et ending) |
The proverb Wer suchet, der findet preserves an old verb ending -et that is now (archaic) outside set phrases; the modern form would be Wer sucht, der findet. The verb's natural partner is finden ("to find") — the goal of any search — so the two are often learned together; see finden.
Was hast du nachts in meinem Büro zu suchen?
What business do you have in my office at night? (idiom 'nichts/etwas zu suchen haben') (informal, confrontational)
For the case mechanics, see accusative functions and, for the nach-construction, dative prepositions.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ich suche für meinen Schlüssel.
Incorrect — suchen takes a bare accusative; there is no 'für' for 'look for'.
✅ Ich suche meinen Schlüssel.
I'm looking for my key. (informal)
❌ Wir haben dich überall gesucht nach.
Incorrect — don't strand 'nach'; either drop it (accusative) or place it before the object: 'nach dir gesucht'.
✅ Wir haben dich überall gesucht.
We looked for you everywhere. (informal)
❌ Am Wochenende suchen wir meine Großeltern.
Wrong verb — to 'visit' people is besuchen; suchen means to search for, implying they're lost.
✅ Am Wochenende besuchen wir meine Großeltern.
On the weekend we're visiting my grandparents. (informal)
❌ Sie hat geversucht, die Tür zu öffnen.
Incorrect participle — versuchen is inseparable, so no extra ge-: it's versucht.
✅ Sie hat versucht, die Tür zu öffnen.
She tried to open the door.
Key Takeaways
- Principal parts: suchen – suchte – hat gesucht (weak, haben).
- "To look for" takes a bare accusative — there is no word for "for": Ich suche meinen Schlüssel.
- suchen nach
- dative is used for abstract or open-ended searches: nach einer Lösung suchen.
- Prefix family: besuchen ("to visit") and versuchen ("to try") are inseparable — participles besucht, versucht, no extra ge-.
- Its natural partner is finden ("to find") — search and result.
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- Dative Prepositions in UseA2 — The everyday dative prepositions — aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu — what each one means and how to use them naturally.
- besuchen: Full Conjugation and UsageA2 — Complete conjugation of besuchen 'to visit' across every tense and mood, with its inseparable ge-less participle, the accusative-only government, and why it never takes a preposition like English 'visit with'.
- versuchen: Full Conjugation and UsageA2 — Complete conjugation of versuchen 'to try / attempt' across every tense and mood, with the zu-infinitive construction, the versuchen / probieren distinction, register notes, and the errors English speakers make.
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- finden: Full Conjugation and UsageA1 — Complete conjugation of finden 'to find / to think (have an opinion)' across every tense and mood, with principal parts, the accusative government, idioms, and the errors English speakers make.