成人快手

You can use the present tense in German to say what you are doing right now, to talk about what you do on a regular basis, and to give facts.

How to form the present tense

To form the present tense, start with an infinitive. An infinitive is the basic form of the verb before any changes for tense or people are made. German infinitives usually end in 鈥揺苍: spielen - to play.

Choose the correct pronoun for the person you are talking about (ich - I, du - you, er, sie, es - he, she, it).

Take the -en off the infinitive. This leaves the stem, which you can add various endings to. Look at the table below to see them.

Spielen - to play

PronounStemEndingExample
ichspiel--e - I play
duspiel--st - you play
erspiel--t - he plays
siespiel--t - she plays
esspiel--t - it plays
A photo of a teenage girl wearing headphones and playing a video game.
Image caption,
Sie spielt Videospiele

Er, sie and es can be replaced with a noun or a name:

  • - She plays video games and he plays basketball.
  • - Sarah plays video games and Michael plays basketball.
A photo of a teenage girl wearing headphones and playing a video game.
Image caption,
Sie spielt Videospiele

There are lots of regular verbs that follow this pattern:

  • - to listen
  • - to make/to do
  • - to go
  • - to drink
  • - to live
  • - to be called

Irregular and stem-changing verbs

Some verbs are irregular, meaning they don鈥檛 follow the same pattern as regular verbs. In German, the endings usually stay the same, but the stem often changes for the second and third person. The stem is what is left of the infinitive verb once you have taken the -en off the end.

Look at the tables below to see how to conjugate common irregular and stem-changing verbs.

Sehen - to see/to watch

  • Take off the -en, leaving you with stem seh-
  • For du and er/sie/es, the stem seh- becomes sieh-
  • For example:
    • - She watches lots of films.
PronounStemEndingExample
ichseh--e - I see
dusieh--st - you see
ersieh--t - he sees
siesieh--t - she sees
essieh--t - it sees

Lesen - to read

  • Take off the -en, leaving you with stem les-
  • For du and er/sie/es, the stem les- becomes lie-
  • For example:
    • - My stepfather reads lots of books.
PronounStemEndingExample
ichles--e - I read
dulie--st - you read
erlie--st - he reads
sielie--st - she reads
eslie--st - it reads

Essen - to eat

  • Take off the -en, leaving you with stem ess-
  • For du and er/sie/es, the stem ess- becomes is-
  • For example:
    • - He eats strawberries.
PronounStemEndingExample
ichess--e - I eat
duis--st - you eat
eris--st - he eats
sieis--st - she eats
esis--st - it eats

Sprechen - to speak

  • Take off the -en, leaving you with stem sprech-
  • For du and er/sie/es, the stem sprech- becomes sprich-
  • For example:
    • - My cousin speaks Spanish.
PronounStemEndingExample
ichsprech--e - I speak
dusprich--st - you speak
ersprich--t - he speaks
siesprich--t - she speaks
essprich--t - it speaks

Quiz

Find out how much you know about聽the German present tense in this short quiz!

Complete the following phrases using your knowledge of the present tense.
Use the English translations to help you.

Game - FestiLingo: German. game

Visit the festival and practise German language skills in this game

Game - FestiLingo: German

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