Present tense verbs

The present tense is what we use to talk about things which are happening right now and things which always happen, for example: ‘I’m eating a sandwich’ and ‘I eat a sandwich for lunch’. The vast majority of verbs are ‘weak’ or ‘regular’, which means they all follow the same pattern.

Weak or regular verbs

For weak/regular verbs take off the ‘en’ to find the stem and add the following:

Spielen* (To play)

Verb	Ending	Meaning
ich spiele	e	I play
du spielst	st	You play (singular, informal)
er/sie/es/man spielt	t	He/she/it/one plays
wir spielen	en	We play
ihr spielt	t	You (plural) play
sie/Sie spielen	en	They/you (formal) play

Sie spielt jeden Tag Federball -> She plays badminton every day.

Verb examples

Below is a list of verbs with their English translation.

Verb examples with English translation

Verb	Translation	Verb	Translation
abspülen	To wash up	schwimmen	To swim
arbeiten	To work	kaufen	To buy
kochen	To cook	senden	To send
bauen	To build	kommen	To come
bekommen	To get	singen	To sing
lachen	To laugh	spielen	To play
leben	To live/exist	springen	To jump
bringen	To bring	lernen	To learn
buchstabieren	To spell	lieben	To love
danken	To thank	lügen	To lie/fib
denken	To think	machen	To make/do
duschen	To shower	meinen	To think
trinken	To drink	studieren	To study
erklären	To explain	nutzen	To use
fragen	To ask	überraschen	To surprise
frühstücken	To eat breakfast	regnen	To rain
gehen	To go	reisen	To travel
sagen	To say	verlieren	To lose
gewinnen	To win	verstehen	To understand
glauben	To believe	versuchen	To try
hassen	To hate	scherzen	To joke
schicken	To send	warten	To wait
heißen	To be called	weinen	To cry
hoffen	To hope	wohnen	To live/reside
hören	To hear	zahlen	To pay
informieren	To inform	schneien	To snow
joggen	To jog	streiten	To argue

Examples in sentences

• Ich glaube, dass du die Wahrheit sprichst -> I believe that you are telling the truth.
• Mein Vater schickt mir oft Briefe -> My father often sends me letters.
• Meine Eltern warten auf uns -> my parents are waiting for us.
• Wann reist er nach Indien? -> When is he travelling to India?
• Ihr sagt zu viel und hört nicht zu! -> You say too much and don’t listen!

Exceptions

If the stem ends in ‘d’ or ‘t’ add an extra ‘e’ before the ending in the third person singular. For example:

• Finden -> er findet – he finds.
• Warten -> sie wartet – she waits.

If the stem ends in ‘s’ you only add ‘t’ in the second person singular. For example:

• Heißen -> du heißt -> you are called.

Strong or irregular verbs

Most strong/irregular verbs have exactly the same endings as regular verbs, and the only changes are in the ‘du’ and ‘er/sie/es/man’ forms.  

Example using the verb ‘fahren’ (to go)

Pronoun	Regular ending	Fahren	Regular?	Why?
ich	-e	fahre	Yes
du	-st	fährst	No	vowel change
er/sie/es/man	-t	fährt	No	vowel change
wir	-en	fahren	Yes
ihr	-t	fahrt	Yes
sie/Sie	-en	fahren	Yes

Next to each verb you can see the du and er/sie/es/man forms. Everything else will follow the same pattern.  

Useful vocabulary: common strong verbs

German infinitive	English	du form	er/sie/es/sie form
essen	To eat	isst	isst
fahren	To go (by vehicle)	fährst	fährt
fallen	To fall	fällst	fällt
halten	To stop/hold	hältst	hält
helfen	To help	hilfst	hilft
lassen	To let/have sth done	lässt	lässt
lesen	To read	liest	liest
nehmen	To take	nimmst	nimmt
schlafen	To sleep	schläfst	schläft
sehen	To see	siehst	sieht
sprechen	To speak	sprichst	spricht
tragen	To wear	trägst	trägt
vergessen	To forget	vergisst	vergisst
waschen	To wash	wäschst	wäscht
werden	To become	wirst	wird
wissen	To know	weißt	weiß

 

Modal verbs

See the section on modal verbs which are ‘special’ in several ways.

• Er isst gern Kuchen -> He likes eating cake.
• Es hilft mir, wenn du abspülst -> It helps me when you wash up.
• Liest du mir eine Geschichte vor? -> Will you read me a story?
• Er sieht abends gern fern -> He likes watching TV in the evening.

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