Present Tense of German Verbs

Infinitive

In a dictionary the infinitive form of verbs is shown. Infinitives in German always end in either en, or occasionally just n. To get the stem of the verb, remove the en.

Infinitives are often used together with another verb and in this case they are always placed at the end of a sentence or independent clause. Sometimes an infinitive is preceded by zu.

You'll learn more about how infinitives are used in German in the lesson on modal verbs.

Present Tense

The present tense is used to indicate that an action currently happens, or repeatedly happens. The present tense in German is very common, and is also used where English uses the present progressive tense. An example of the present tense in German is Ich lese, which can mean I read, I am reading, and I do read.

In German, if you want to emphasize that an action is happening right now, you can say Ich lese gerade or Ich lese jetzt.

Conjugation

Most German verbs follow the same pattern in present tense. To conjugate a verb for the present tense, you start with the stem of the verb and add the appropriate grammatical ending.

The following table shows the conjugation of German verbs in the present tense.

Note: The polite form of you in German is the same as they and verbs are conjugated the same for both. The only difference is that Sie (meaning you) is always capitalized. The meaning needs to be picked up from the context of the conversation.

Common German Verbs

Regular Verbs

Here are some more common German verbs that have a regular conjugation in the present tense.

Irregular Verbs

A few very common verbs are irregular in the present tense. This section covers some of these verbs. See the lesson on Modal Verbs for more examples.

Sein

The verb sein means to be, and is very irregular. The conjugation of sein is shown in the following table.

Haben

The verb haben means to have, and is also very irregular. The conjugation of the verb haben is shown in the following table.

Wissen

The verb wissen means to know (facts, knowledge), and is also very irregular. The conjugation of the verb wissen is shown in the following table.

Verbs with a vowel change in the present tense

A few verbs change the vowel in the stem for the second and third person singular forms. The following table shows some of these verbs.

essen (eat)	ich esse	du isst	er/sie/es isst	wir/sie essen
geben (give)	ich gebe	du gibst	er/sie/es gibt	wir/sie geben
fahren (drive)	ich fahre	du fährst	er/sie/es fährt	wir/sie fahren
fallen (fall)	ich falle	du fällst	er/sie/es fällt	wir/sie fallen
helfen (help)	ich helfe	du hilfst	er/sie/es hilft	wir/sie helfen
lassen (let, leave)	ich lasse	du lässt	er/sie/es lässt	wir/sie lassen
laufen (run)	ich laufe	du läufst	er/sie/es läuft	wir/sie laufen
lesen (read)	ich lese	du liest	er/sie/es liest	wir/sie lesen
nehmen (take)	ich nehme	du nimmst	er/sie/es nimmt	wir/sie nehmen
schlafen (sleep)	ich schlafe	du schläfst	er/sie/es schläft	wir/sie schlafen
sprechen (speak)	ich sprache	du sprichst	er/sie/es spricht	wir/sie sprechen
sehen (see)	ich sehe	du siehst	er/sie/es sieht	wir/sie sehen
vergessen (forget)	ich vergesse	du vergisst	er/sie/es vergisst	wir/sie vergessen

Negative statements

To make a statement negative in German, put the word nicht after the verb. The word kein means not a or not any and can also be used to make a statement negative. Kein has the same grammatical endings as ein.

Examples

Asking Questions

To ask a question in German that requires a simple yes or no answer, put the verb at the start of the sentence, followed by the subject.

Examples

Another way to ask questions is to start a sentence with a question word. Here are the German question words.

Examples