The present tense: How to talk about what you do in German

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.

The present tense : How to talk about what you do in German

When you’re talking about something you do or are doing right now, you need the present tense.

Let’s imagine you’re playing something. ‘To play’ is spielen.

Ich spiele - I play

Du spielst - you play

Er spielt - he plays

The ending of the verb changes depending on who is doing the playing.

For spielen - ‘to play’ - and lots of regular verbs you take off the -en.

And for ich you add -e, for du you add -st and for er, sie, es you add -t.

Let’s try some other useful verbs like machen - ‘to do’ or ‘to make’.

Ich mache einen Tee- I make tea

Du machst Videos - You make videos.

Er macht Sport - He does sport.

Let’s try gehen -‘ to go’.

Ich gehe in die Schule - I go to school.

Du gehst ins Bett - You go to bed.

Er geht ins Kino - He goes to the cinema.

Some verbs don’t follow this pattern.

Essen - ‘ to eat’ - is irregular because you don’t just take the -en off.

Ich esse Fleisch.

Du isst Bananen.

Sie isst einen Apfel.

So in the present tense ich ends in -e, du ends in -st and er, sie, es end in -t.

And watch out for those irregular verbs!

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 –en: 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

Pronoun	Stem	Ending	Example
ich	spiel-	-e	ich spiele - I play
du	spiel-	-st	du spielst - you play
er	spiel-	-t	er spielt - he plays
sie	spiel-	-t	sie spielt - she plays
es	spiel-	-t	es spielt - it plays

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

Sie spielt Videospiele, und er spielt Basketball - She plays video games and he plays basketball.
Sarah spielt Videospiele, und Michael spielt Basketball - Sarah plays video games and Michael plays basketball.

Sie spielt Videospiele

There are lots of regular verbs that follow this pattern:

hören - to listen
machen - to make/to do
gehen - to go
trinken - to drink
wohnen - to live
heißen - to be called

Irregular and stem-changing verbs

Some verbs are irregular, meaning they don’t 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:
- Sie sieht viele Filme - She watches lots of films.

Pronoun	Stem	Ending	Example
ich	seh-	-e	ich sehe - I see
du	sieh-	-st	du siehst - you see
er	sieh-	-t	er sieht - he sees
sie	sieh-	-t	sie sieht - she sees
es	sieh-	-t	es sieht - 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:
- Mein Stiefvater liest viele Bücher - My stepfather reads lots of books.

Pronoun	Stem	Ending	Example
ich	les-	-e	ich lese - I read
du	lie-	-st	du liest - you read
er	lie-	-st	er liest - he reads
sie	lie-	-st	sie liest - she reads
es	lie-	-st	es liest - 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:
- Er isst Erdbeeren - He eats strawberries.

Pronoun	Stem	Ending	Example
ich	ess-	-e	ich esse - I eat
du	is-	-st	du isst - you eat
er	is-	-st	er isst - he eats
sie	is-	-st	sie isst - she eats
es	is-	-st	es isst - 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:
- Meine Cousine spricht Spanisch - My cousin speaks Spanish.

Pronoun	Stem	Ending	Example
ich	sprech-	-e	ich spreche - I speak
du	sprich-	-st	du sprichst - you speak
er	sprich-	-t	er spricht - he speaks
sie	sprich-	-t	sie spricht - she speaks
es	sprich-	-t	es spricht - it speaks