A1 · The verb: present tense and stem
The present tense
ich komme, du kommst, er kommt
Four endings on a stem — and one tense doing the work of two English ones.
At a glance
- Remember
- One present tense, two English ones. Use a time word, not a form.
- Form
- ich kommeI come
- Signal words
- -e
- -st
- -t
- -en
- gerade
- immer
- jeden Tag
- Trap
- Wrong:Ich bin arbeiten.Right:Ich arbeite.
Your turn
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The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in German. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) person ending
| I come | ich komme |
| you come (du) | du kommst |
| he / she / it comes | er / sie / es kommt |
| we come | wir kommen |
| you come (ihr) | ihr kommt |
| they / you (Sie) come | sie / Sie kommen |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
The endings go on the stem, which is the infinitive minus -en.
wir spielen, ich spielewe play, I play
A stem ending in -t, -d, or a consonant plus m or n (atmen, rechnen) adds an -e- before -st and -t, so the ending can be heard.
du arbeitest, er findetyou work, he finds
A stem ending in -s, -ß, -z or -x takes only -t in the du form, not -st.
du heißt, du tanztyou are called, you dance
One present tense covers "I work" and "I am working". There is no progressive form.
Ich lese gerade ein Buch.I am reading a book at the moment.
Example sentences
Ich wohne in Hamburg.I live in Hamburg.
Was machst du am Wochenende?What are you doing at the weekend?
Der Zug kommt um sieben an.The train arrives at seven.
Wir arbeiten zusammen.We work together.
Morgen fliege ich nach Wien.I am flying to Vienna tomorrow.
8 more example sentences
Wie heißt du?What is your name?
Er arbeitet bei einer Bank.He works at a bank.
Ihr kommt zu spät.You are late.
Sie studiert Medizin.She is studying medicine.
Wir finden das gut.We think that is good.
Das Geschäft öffnet um neun.The shop opens at nine.
Ich verstehe das nicht.I don't understand that.
Nächste Woche fangen die Ferien an.The holidays start next week.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
There is no German progressive, and building one out of sein plus an infinitive says something else: Ich bin arbeiten, like ich bin einkaufen, means "I am away at work", not "I am working". If you need to stress that something is happening right now, German uses a word — gerade, im Moment — not a form. Ich arbeite gerade is the sentence English would build with a tense.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Take the infinitive, remove the -en, and what is left is the stem: kommen gives komm-. The endings go on that: -e, -st, -t, -en, -t, -en for ich, du, er/sie/es, wir, ihr, sie/Sie. Three of the six are -en or -t, so there are fewer distinct forms than persons.
The German present covers both English presents. Ich arbeite is "I work" and "I am working" — German has no progressive and does not miss it, because a time word or the situation says which is meant. This is a simplification for the learner and a trap for the writer: do not look for a form that is not there.
It also does duty for the future. Morgen fahre ich nach Berlin is "I am going to Berlin tomorrow" and is the ordinary way to say it. The dedicated future with werden exists but is used less than English speakers expect.
A closer look
Why the endings are worth the fortnight
Six endings look like a cost with no return, and in a simple sentence they are: ich komme says "I" twice. The return comes later, when German starts moving words around. Because the verb agrees with the subject and the subject is marked by case, the sentence can put anything first without becoming ambiguous.
English pays for its missing endings in a different currency: fixed word order and a large stock of auxiliary verbs. Neither language is doing less work — they are spending it in different places, and the endings are where German spends it.
Exceptions and special cases2
Exception
When the verb is sein
then nothing about the pattern applies: ich bin, du bist, er ist, wir sind, ihr seid, sie sind.
Ich bin müde und du bist es auch.I am tired and so are you.
Why? Sein is assembled from more than one older verb, which is why the forms do not resemble each other — and it is the same reason English has "am", "is" and "are".
Exception
When the verb is a strong verb with a changing vowel — fahren, geben, sehen, lesen, nehmen, schlafen
then the du and er forms change the vowel, and only those two.
ich fahre, du fährst, er fährt, wir fahrenI drive, you drive, he drives, we drive
Why? An older sound change affected exactly those two endings and left the others alone.
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
Sie with a capital letter is the polite you
German has three words for "you": du to one person you are familiar with, ihr to several, and Sie to anybody else. Sie takes the same verb form as the plural sie and is written with a capital, which is the only thing telling the two apart on paper. Getting it wrong is the most audible mistake a foreigner makes in German, because it is about the relationship rather than the grammar.
Wie heißen Sie? – Wie heißt du?What is your name? (formal / informal)
Worth knowing
The extra -e- is there to be heard
A stem ending in -t or -d would make arbeitst and findt, which cannot be pronounced cleanly, so an -e- goes in: du arbeitest, er findet. This is not an irregularity but a spelling that follows the mouth, and the same instinct produces du atmest and er rechnet.
du arbeitest, er findet, ihr wartetyou work, he finds, you wait
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The verbs on this page, in every form: fahren · sein · arbeiten · spielen · kommen · finden · lesen · wohnen