Präsens
[Present Tense]
Verbs
whose stem ends in a -t
Such verbs add an
-est instead of just a -st in the du-form, and an -et instead
of just a -t in the er/sie/es and ihr-forms. No need to dwell on
this, since you'll automatically do it, e.g. "er/sie/es arbeitt"
sounds weird, so you'll know to say "er/sie/es arbeitet" (and simlarly
"ihr arbeitet") instead.
For
the same reason, verbs whose stem ends in an -m or
-n add an -e before the du-, er/sie/es and ihr-endings
when they are preceded by certain consonants. Again,
this will be obvious to you: "es regnt"
sounds bizarre, so you'll automatically say "es regnet,"
"du widmst" will look wrong to you
even if you've never seen this verb, so you'll know to say
"du widmest" instead. On the other hand, "du
schwärmst" or "es klingelt" sound fine without inserting
an "e," so you don't.
Verbs
whose stem ends in a -d also follow the same pattern
[e.g. leiden [=to suffer]: er/sie/es leidet, ihr leidet],
but there is one notable exception: einladen [=to invite]:
du lädst ein, er/sie/es lädt ein--but
the ihr-form does add the -et: ihr ladet ein.
Wissen
This verb takes endings
like a modal verb, and has a stem change (i ==> ei) in the first, second and third
person singular, instead of just the second and third person singular:
| wissen |
to
know (a fact) |
| ich weiß |
wir wissen |
| du weißt |
ihr wisst |
| er/sie/es
weiß |
sie/Sie
wissen |
Tun
This verb is not really
irregular in the present tense, but looks confusing, so here are its forms:
| tun |
to
do |
| ich tue |
wir tun |
| du tust |
ihr tut |
| er/sie/es
tut |
sie/Sie
tun |
Do you?
Yes/No questions are
often introduced by the auxiliary verb "do" in English. In German, yes/no
questions are simply asked by putting the verb in front of the subject.
The same applies to other kinds of questions involving 'do," as in the last example
below:
| Do
you feel like I do? |
Fühlst
du dich wie ich? |
| Do
you know where you're going to? |
Weißt
du, wohin du gehst? |
| Do
you like the things that life is showing you? |
Magst du
die Dinge, die das Leben dir zeigt? |
| Where
do you go, my lovely? |
Wohin gehst
du, mein Liebling? |
Return
to the main Verb Tenses page
|
