All About German Regular Verbs in the Present Tense / RegelmässigeVerben

In this lesson, you are going to learn everything about the Present Tense of German Regular Verbs, how to conjugate verbs for each person, and how to form the infinitive stem, also you’ll get some tips on how to learn German easier.

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CONTENT

Present Tense of regular verbs – how are they formed?
How to get the Infinitive stem?
Exception to regular verbs conjugation

Present Tense of Regular Verbs – How Are They Formed?

Maybe you won’t believe it, but everything is simple and easy with these verbs, the good news is also that the most German verbs are regular/weak verbs. They follow the same pattern in the present and past tense. That’s why they are sometimes also called regular verbs.

With regular verbs the infinitive stem is NEVER changed. So we don’t have to memorize them by heart.

Buut, there is always but, it is often not clear from the stem whether a verb is weak or strong, so it is best to learn the pattern of a verb straight away.
For example:
spielen, spielte, gespielt
machen, machte, gemacht
lernen, lernte, gelernt

This is the pattern for the conjugation of the verbs in the Present tense. Take the -en or -n off the infinitive of the verb to find the stem.

For example:

then add the personal endings:

-e,  -st,  -t,  -en,  -t,  -en   ili     -e,   –est,   –et,  -en,   –et,   -en

Here is the example of conjungation:

How to get the infinitive stem?

The infinitive of a verb in German consists of the stem and the ending -en or -n.


Here is the example:

spielen = spiel + en
spiel- = verb stem
-en = ending

wandern = wander + n
wander- = verb stem
-n = ending

In many languages the verb ending changes according to who is doing the action and you have to learn the pattern of the verb. In the table below is the pattern of the German verbs spielen  (to play a game, to play an instrument) and arbeiten  (to work):

As you see in German, the endings change for each person, so you have to learn them.

In the table below you can see how to conjugate regular verbs in The Present Tense.

Note that the formal form Sie looks exactly like the sie (they), except that it is written with capital letter, so you know the difference right away.

The endings for we (wir), they (sie) and you (Sie formal) are all the same as the infinitive ending. All you have to memorize are the verb endings for ich, du, er/sie/es and ihr.

In English, we only change the ending when we are talking about
he/she or it plays,
he/she/it lieves,
he/she/it makes/does, so we don’t have to learn our verbs off by heart.

Let’s see how it works in a sentence:

Ich spiele montags Tennis. – I play tennis on Mondays.
Du spielst dienstags Fußball. –You play football on Tuesdays.
Er spielt jeden Abend in einem Cafe Gitarre. – He plays guitar in a café every evening.
Wir spielen  samstags Basketball. -We play basketball on Saturdays.
Ihr spielt tollen Handball. -You play great handball.
Sie spielen am Sonntagabend Karten. -You play cards on Sunday evenings.

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Grammar Contents

Exceptions to the Conjugation of Regular Verbs

Verbs ending in –eln, –ern lose –e in 1^st Person Singular:

handeln: ich handle (NOT handele)
lächeln: ich lächle ( NOT lächele)

But those in –ern  do not:
wandern: ich wandere (NOT wandre)

Stems ending in -d, -t, -st , -m, -n  are added –e between the endings and the stem in 2^nd and 3^rd Person Singular as well as in 2^nd Person Plural:

reden –            du redest, er redet, ihr redet
antworten –     du antwortest, er antwortet, ihr antwortet
rasten –            du rastest, er rastet, ihr rastet
atmen –           du atmest, er atmet, ihr atmet
rechnen –         du rechnest, er rechnet, ihr rechnet

this includes: widmen, öffnen,..

Stems ending in -s, -ß, -tz, -z, -x we add only -t in 2^nd Person Singular:

reisen – ich reise, du reist, er reist
heißen – ich heiße, du heißt, er heißt
sitzen – ich sitze, du sitzt, er sitzt
heizen – ich heize, du heizt, er heizt
mixen – ich mixe, du mixt, er mixt

That would be all on this topic. If I  have left anything out or if you have any other questions or doubts feel free to write in comments and I will gladly reply :))

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