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German Present Tense

☰ List of all topics in the level A1

Level A1 Introduction Unit 1 Alphabet and pronunciation Unit 2 Diphthongs and constant combinations Unit 3 German nouns and their genders Unit 4 Articles in the nominative case Unit 5 Pronouns in the nominative case Unit 6 Verb sein in present Unit 7 Verb sein in imperfect Unit 8 Verb haben Unit 9 Present tense Unit 10 Modal Verbs Unit 11 Nominalization of verbs Unit 12 Adjective endings in nominative case Unit 13 Making plural nouns Unit 14 Numbers in German Unit 15 Accusative case Unit 16 Pronouns in accusative case Unit 17 Prepositions with accusative case Unit 18 Questions with interrogative pronouns Unit 19 Asking questions without interrogative pronouns

This lesson contains topics:

1. Simple present tense in German
2. German present tense conjugation
1. German regular verb conjugation
2. Exceptions in the conjugation of regular verbs
3. German irregular verbs conjugation

After learning this lesson, you will have the ability to:

1. Construct simple German sentences in the current timeframe.
2. Perform verb conjugations for both regular and irregular verbs.

1. Simple present tense in German

In German, "das Präsens" is the present tense. German has only one way to express the present tense. For example, in English, we have three ways to express the present, i.e., “I eat”, “I am eating” and I do eat”. In German, for these three, we only have one form, i.e., “Ich esse”.

Furthermore, "Ich esse" can also convey the concept of the simple future, indicating "I'll eat." By incorporating a future time reference, such as "Ich esse morgen" (I'll eat tomorrow), we can explicitly emphasize the future tense. Further explanation of the German future tense is discussed in lesson 28 (Simple Future).

So, the sentence "Ich esse" can be translated as:

1. I eat.
2. I am eating.
3. I do eat.
4. I’ll eat.

The context of the sentence clarifies the timeframe. For example, if person 1 asks, “Would you like to eat the cake tomorrow?” Person 2 replies, “Ja, ich esse.” (Yes, I’ll eat.)

Person 1 asks, “Are you eating bread?”
Person 2 replies, “Ja, ich esse das Brot.” (Yes, I am eating bread.)

If the question is, “Do you eat bread?” again, the answer would be in Präsens. “Ja, ich esse das Brot”, but this time the English translation would be “Yes, I eat bread”.

Optionally, the word "gerade" (right now / at the moment) can be added to emphasize the progressive form. For instance, "Ich esse gerade" (I am eating / I am eating right now). Nevertheless, German verbs undergo inflection, meaning the verb ending alters depending on the specific personal pronoun and whether it's in singular or plural form.

In our previous lesson, we covered the conjugation of the German verb "haben" (to have). Most other German verbs are also conjugated in an almost similar manner, with minor differences.

2. German present tense conjugation

In the German language, verb endings change more often than in the English language. In English, change only occurs in the third person singular, where we add the “-s” ending, e.g., "He eats". In German, the verb ending changes according to whether the verb is used in the first person, second person, or third person, as well as whether it is used in plural or singular form.

German verbs can be categorized into two primary groups.

1. Regular verbs (regelmäßige Verben)
2. Irregular verbs (unregelmäßige Verben)

2.1 German regular verb conjugation

Though "haben" is not a regular verb, if you have learned the conjugation of haben, you can now conjugate all the German regular verbs. The majority of German verbs are regular verbs.

German verbs have unique stems, which serve as their foundational components. In the case of regular verbs, the stem remains consistent throughout their conjugation. To identify this stem, we remove the "-en" or "-n" ending from the infinitive form of a verb. For instance, the stem of the verb "haben" is "hab-." Subsequently, various endings are applied to the "hab-" stem for the first, second, and third persons, as well as for both singular and plural forms.

Here are a few common regular verbs and their corresponding stems. You can apply the same method to obtain stems from other German verbs.

In the conjugation of a regular verb, after removing the ending "-en" or "-n" from the stem of the infinitive form of the verb, add the following endings to the verb’s stem:

For more clarity, see the below examples of verb conjugations.

1st Example: Conjugation of machen (to do). The stem of “machen” is mach-

Below are examples of complete sentences with the verb "machen". Please note that each sentence in the German language starts with a capital letter. However, in the forthcoming examples within this lesson, we will intentionally deviate from this rule by not capitalizing the initial letter. This is done to distinguish between the formal "Sie" and the feminine personal pronoun "sie," which means 'she.'

Die Hausarbeit is a compound noun. It is a combination of das Haus (home) and die Arbeit (work). Please see lesson 3 to learn more about nouns and their combinations.

2nd Example of the regular verb conjugation: Conjugation of studieren (to study). The stem of studieren is "studier-".

2.2 Exceptions in the conjugation of regular verbs

2.2.1 The verb's stem ends in the letter -d or -t

In German regular verbs with stems ending in the letters "-d" or "-t," the suffix "-est" is appended to the second person singular, and the suffix "-et" is attached to the third person singular. To illustrate, take a look at the conjugation of the verb "arbeiten" below.

The stem of arbeiten is "arbeit-".

2.2.2 The verb's ends in the letter -s or -ß

In regular verbs, when the stems end with the letter "-s" or "-ß," the ending "-t" is appended to the second person singular form. For instance, consider the verbs "wissen" and "heißen." It's important to note that there are only a limited number of verbs whose stems end in "-s" or "-ß."

Following is the conjugation of wissen:

Conjugation of heißen:

"Heißen" is an important verb used for stating names and conveying meanings. For instance, "ich heiße Thomas" translates to "My name is Thomas," and "Wie heißen Sie?" means "What is your name?" The literal translation of "heißen" is "to be called" or "to mean."

Some examples of the verb "heißen":

Wie heißt der Hund? (What is the name of the dog?)

Der Hund heißt Bello. (The dog’s name is Bello.)

Was heißt das? (what does this mean?)

Was heißt das auf Deutsch? (What does this mean in German?)

Was heißt das auf Englisch? (What does this mean in English?)

Was heißt der Hund auf Englisch? (What's the dog in English?)

Wie heißt die Stadt? (What is the name of the city?)

Die Stadt heißt Berlin. (The name of the city is Berlin/The city is called Berlin.)

2.3 German irregular verbs conjugation

Around 200 German verbs are categorized as irregular verbs based on their conjugation. Irregularity in a verb refers to the phenomenon where its stem undergoes changes during conjugation. In the present tense (das Präsens), these irregular verbs typically exhibit stem alterations primarily in the second-person and third-person conjugations, although, on occasion, such changes may also manifest in the first-person singular form. The most prevalent stem modifications in the second-person and third-person conjugations include:

• Change in the vowel
• Change in the umlaut
• Change in the diphthong, e.g. ie to ei, etc

Some verbs conjugate regularly in the present tense (das Präsens), but their conjugations in other tenses are irregular, thus they are placed in the irregular category, e.g., the verb bleiben (to stay).

Some commonly used irregular verbs are:
essen (to eat)
sprechen (to speak)
sehen (to see)
geben (to give)
helfen (to help)
lesen (to read)
nehmen (to take)

Conjugation of the irregular verb "essen" (to eat): Please pay attention to the stem change in the second-person singular and third-person singular.

The following is the conjugation of another irregular verb, sprechen (to speak):

Vocabulary building

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