⚪ Verbs in the Present Tense

2.1 - What is Verb?

A verb usually describes what a person or any other subject is doing; 'I go to the cinema'. It can also describe a state; 'He is angry.'

2.2 - Verb Formation

German has more endings for verbs in the present tense than English. You take the stem of a verb then add the required ending. The stem is the form of the infinitive without -en or -n.

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🎯 Details

1⃣Ich (I) - For first person (singular) you add -e the stem.
2⃣Du/Sie (You *singular) - There are 2 forms of address in German; the informal address is du and the formal address is Sie (always with an initial capital letter). The endings are -st for du and -en for Sie.
3⃣er/sie/es (he/she/it) - To talk about third person or thing you use er for 'he', sie (small s) for 'she' and es for 'it' in German. these you add -t to the stem.
4⃣Wir (we) - Overall the pural forms are much easier to learn. wir takes -en *the same form as most infinitives.
5⃣Ihr/Sie (you *plural) - As for the singular, there is an informal (ihr) and formal way (Sie) to address more than one person.
6⃣sie (they) - when referring to several people, German use sie (spelled with small s). You have to add -en

2.3 - One Present Tense in German

As we have seen, in German there is only one present tense which corresponds both to the simple and continous present tense in English.

💥Exceptions 💥

Although the majority of verbs in German follow the regular pattern described above, there are a number of exceptions (irregular form)

✏ Some verb have slight spelling variation or their stem vowel changes (unit 3)
✏Sein and Haben ('to be' or 'to have') are particularly irregular (unit 4).

BUT BEFORE THAT, MAKE SURE YOU DIGESTED ALL INFORMATION FROM THIS UNIT

🎲 Quiz '⚪️ Verbs in the Present Tense'
🖊 8 questions · ⏱ 30 sec

⚪ Verb Variations & Irregular Verbs

3.1 - Regular & Irregular Forms

Most verbs in German follow a regular pattern where the ending is simply added to the stem of the verb. But there are some variations where the spelling is slightly different. There is also a group of irregular verbs where there are changes in the stem of the verb.

3.2 - Irregular Verbs in English

In English there is also a difference between regular and irregular verbs, but it usually does not affect the present tense, except for 'to be' (sein) and 'to have' (haben). These verbs will be discussed in unit 4.

3.3 - Spelling Variations - an overview 

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3.3.1 - Stem Endings in -d or -t

There are some German verbs where the stem ends in -d or -t. It would be difficult to pronounce the -st endings for du and the -t ending for er/sie/es and ihr *if -st or -t was directly added to the stem. This is why an -e is put before these endings;

1⃣ arbeiten (infinitive) -> arbeit (stem) -> du arbeitest (finite verb)
2⃣ kosten (infinitive) -> kost (stem) -> es kostet (finite verb)
3⃣ reden (infinitive) -> red (stem) -> ihr redet (finite verb)
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du arbeitst ❌
du arbeitest ✅

es kost ❌
es kostet ✅

ihr redt ❌
ihr redet ✅
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3.3.2 - Verb such as atmen and regnen

Verbs such as atmen and regnen, where the stem ends in a consonant + n or m, also need additional -e.

1⃣atmen (infinitive) -> atm (stem) -> du atmest (finite verb)
2⃣ regnen (infinitive) -> regn (stem) -> es regnet (finitive verb)

3.3.3 Only du, er/sie/es, and ihr are affected
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The extra e is added only with the endings for du, er/sie/es and ihr; it does not affect the other verb forms.

ich arbeite
du arbeitest
er/sie/es arbeitet
wir arbeiten
ihr arbeitet
Sie/sie arbeiten