So what is the Present Tense used for in German?
The Present Tense in German is used to talk about things that are happening at the present time or about things which happen regularly or which you do often. For example, in English, "I play football on a Saturday morning" and "I have a dog" are both examples of the Present Tense.
How do I form the Present Tense?
The Present Tense in German is really not that difficult to form. There are some simple rules that you need to know and learn which govern Weak Verbs, and some basic principles concerning Strong Verbs which really help you to use them. In addition there are few common Irregular Verbs that you need to learn.
That sounds pretty complicated to me!
Learners of German tend to think that verbs are difficult. I really do not think that this is the case. If we address each section carefully, we can see patterns and similarities, and reduce the whole thing to some simple rules.
Weak verbs in German are verbs which are obedient and follow all the rules exactly in a given tense, in this case the Present Tense. They obey all patterns. (They are a bit like what would be known as regular verbs in French.)
That sounds pretty straight forward. What about Strong Verbs then?
Strong Verbs are verbs which do not "conform" like weak verbs; rather they are "strong" and "stand up for themselves". Actually, they are not as strong as they like to think they are, and in reality they do follow rules and patterns, but each verb has a very slight difference.
So I guess they are like Irregular verbs in French, say?
No, they are not, which is why we do not use the term Irregular Verbs for them. Strong verb do follow the basic rules, but they each have a very slight difference in two of their forms, which needs to be learned for each verb. Otherwise they are much the same as weak verbs.
So there are no Irregular verbs in German then?
The not so good news is that there are a number of verbs which are irregular in the way they form the Present Tense. The good news is that there are not that many of them and as they are frequently used verbs, they are not that difficult to learn.
What's the rule with weak verbs?
Weak verbs all follow this pattern:
We take the infinitive form of the verb (that is, the form that we find in the dictionary):
For example let's take "spielen" which means "to play".
We then take off the "-EN" from the end to form what we call the stem. We then add on an ending as follows:
| English Subject | German Subject | Ending added to stem | spielen - to play |
| I | ich | -e | spiele |
| you (informal) | du | -st | spielst |
| he / she / it | er / sie / es | -t | spielt |
| we | wir | -en | spielen |
| you (informal plural) | ihr | -t | spielt |
| they / you (formal sing and plur) | sie / Sie | -en | spielen |
Now if we look at that list of endings, we can simplify it down even further. We notice that the "wir" and "sie / Sie" forms are actually the same as the infinitive, which makes them very easy to work out.
The "er / sie / es" and "ihr" forms are the same in that they both take a "t" on the end. That just leaves the "ich" and "du" forms.
Do all verbs end in "-EN" in the infinitive then?
The vast majority of verbs do indeed end in "-EN" in the infinitive.
There are a few exceptions. For example, verbs which end in "-ELN" such as "sammeln" (to collect), "angeln" (to fish) and "segeln" (to sail) follow the same pattern with slight changes:
| English Subject | German Subject | Ending added to stem | sammeln - to collect |
| I | ich | -e | sammle |
| you (informal) | du | -st | sammelst |
| he / she / it | er / sie / es | -t | sammelt |
| we | wir | -en | sammeln |
| you (informal plural) | ihr | -t | sammelt |
| they / you (formal sing and plur) | sie / Sie | -en | sammeln |
The only real difference here is that the "ich" form has lost an extra "e" from the infinitive. In addition, there was no "E" to take off the infinitive, so we just took off the "N". Not that hard really!
In addition, the stem of some verbs (the bit with the "EN" taken off) ends in a "D" or "T". In this case, we add an extra "E" in the du and er / sie / es and ihr forms, for ease of pronunciation.
| finden (to find) | arbeiten (to work) | |
| ich | finde | arbeite |
| du | findest | arbeitest |
| er / sie / es | findet | arbeitet |
| wir | finden | arbeiten |
| ihr | findet | arbeitet |
| sie / Sie | finden | arbeiten |
OK. So what about these Strong Verbs then?
I said above that Strong verbs are the same as weak verbs in most ways, but that they have a change in a couple of parts. There really is no need for stress where Strong Verbs are concerned!
Let's look at an example, and I'll show you what I mean. The verb "fahren" is a strong verb and it means "to go" or "to travel" by a means of transport. It is a very frequently used verb.
Here it is in the Present Tense:
| English Subject | German Subject | Ending added to stem | fahren - to go / travel |
| I | ich | -e | fahre |
| you (informal) | du | -st | fährst |
| he / she / it | er / sie / es | -t | fährt |
| we | wir | -en | fahren |
| you (informal plural) | ihr | -t | fahrt |
| they / you (formal sing and plur) | sie / Sie | -en | fahren |
The first thing that we notice is that the endings are exactly the same as for a weak verb. Result! I told you this was simple!
The only difference is that in the "du" and "er / sie / es" forms, there is what we call a vowel change which changes the pronunciation.
All Strong Verbs follow this pattern of vowel change in those two parts only. The endings are the same as for weak verbs.
You do however have to learn which verbs are Strong Verbs and what the vowel change is for each one, as there is no way of telling from the verb itself.
There are patterns and the more you learn, the easier it becomes.
Here are some common Strong Verbs used at GCSE level in England:
1. The letter "a" gains an Umlaut in the "du" and "er / sie / es" forms:
| fahren (to go, travel) | tragen (to wear, carry) | schlafen (to sleep) | |
| ich | fahre | trage | schlafe |
| du | fährst | trägst | schläfst |
| er / sie / es | fährt | trägt | schläft |
| wir | fahren | tragen | schlafen |
| ihr | fahrt | tragt | schlaft |
| sie / Sie | fahren | tragen | schlafen |
| waschen (to wash) | laufen (to run) | gefallen (to please / like) | |
| ich | wasche | laufe | |
| du | wäschst | läufst | |
| er / sie / es | wäscht | läuft | gefällt |
| wir | waschen | laufen | |
| ihr | wascht | lauft | |
| sie / Sie | waschen | laufen | gefallen |
2. The letter "e" changes to "ie" in the "du" and "er / sie / es" forms:
| sehen (to see) | lesen (to read) | |
| ich | sehe | lese |
| du | siehst | liest* |
| er / sie / es | sieht | liest |
| wir | sehen | lesen |
| ihr | seht | lest |
| sie / Sie | sehen | lesen |
*note that the du form has effectively dropped an "s" from the stem as it doesn't need another one
3. The letter "e" changes to an "i" in the "du" and "er / sie / es" forms:
| geben (to give) | essen (to eat) | sprechen (to speak) | |
| ich | gebe | esse | spreche |
| du | gibst | isst* | sprichst |
| er / sie / es | gibt | isst | spricht |
| wir | geben | essen | sprechen |
| ihr | gebt | esst | sprecht |
| sie / Sie | geben | essen | sprechen |
*note that the du form has effectively dropped an "s" from the stem as it doesn't need another one
| helfen (to help) | treffen (to meet) | |
| ich | helfe | treffe |
| du | hilfst | triffst |
| er / sie / es | hilft | trifft |
| wir | helfen | treffen |
| ihr | helft | trefft |
| sie / Sie | helfen | treffen |
Not that difficult really then. Tell me about the irregular verbs.
There are a few verbs which are irregular and have to be learned individually.
| haben (to have) | sein (to be) | werden (to become) | nehmen (to take) | |
| ich | habe | bin | werde | nehme |
| du | hast | bist | wirst | nimmst |
| er / sie / es | hat | ist | wird | nimmt |
| wir | haben | sind | werden | nehmen |
| ihr | habt | seid | werdet | nehmt |
| sie / Sie | haben | sind | werden | nehmen |
In addition, there are 6 modal verbs, which also follow their own pattern and are slightly irregular. These are useful and frequently used verbs and are followed by an infinitive in a sentence.
| können (to be able to) | wollen (to want to) | müssen (to have to) | |
| ich | kann | will | muss |
| du | kannst | willst | musst |
| er / sie / es | kann | will | muss |
| wir | können | wollen | müssen |
| ihr | könnt | wollt | müsst |
| sie / Sie | können | wollen | müssen |
| dürfen (to be allowed to) | sollen (ought to / should) | mögen (to like) | |
| ich | darf | soll | mag |
| du | darfst | sollst | magst |
| er / sie / es | darf | soll | mag |
| wir | dürfen | sollen | mögen |
| ihr | dürft | sollt | mögt |
| sie / Sie | dürfen | sollen | mögen |
So is that it then?
As far as GCSE in England is concerned, that should be everything you need to know about formation of the present tense.
There are a few other more advanced complications, and of course you can find details of these in any grammar book.