Tenses

Present tense

Präsens

The present tense Präsens is used to describe activities/events taking place at the moment of speaking. It is also often used to talk/write about the future, especially when a sentence contains any words describing the time e.g. in the evening / in a month.

Building sentences in the Präsens tense

Subjekt + Verb

The subject (Subjekt) is the person or thing performing the action. It is directly followed by a conjugated verb (konjugiertes Verb), which is in the second position. In order to conjugate a verb, the suffix -en is removed from the infinitive (Infinitiv) and then a suffix is added to account for the person (Personalendung) according to the following table:

Person Endung machen
ich -e mache
du -st machst
er/sie/es -t macht
wir -en machen
ihr -t macht
sie/Sie -en machen

Applications of the present tense

Activities that take place during speaking
  • Translation
  • She is eating an apple.
Describing facts and present states
  • Translation
  • Erik is ill.
  • Translation
  • My name is Peter.
  • Translation
  • It is cold (right now).
Activities that have been going on for some time
  • Translation
  • I have been working for this company for 3 years.
Generally accepted truths, natural phenomena, regulations, rules
  • Translation
  • The earth is round.
Describing planned or arranged activities that will take place in the future

In this situation usually an adverb of time is present. It says that the activity will take place in the future e.g. tomorrow (morgen), on Mondays (montags).

  • Translation
  • I am going/driving to Berlin next week.
  • Translation
  • I go to the gym on Mondays.

Exceptions and special cases

Conjugation of the verbs haben and sein.
Person haben sein
ich habe bin
du hast bist
er/sie/es hat ist
wir haben sind
ihr habt seid
sie/Sie haben sind
Strong verbs

There are many so called strong verbs that have an irregular form in the second and third persons singular (du, er/sie/es). In that case, usually one or two letters change in the verb stem.

  • Translation
  • to talk
  • Translation
  • to take
Verbs ending with -x, -z, -s, -ß, -tz, -ss

When the verb stem ends with -x, -z, -s, -ß, -tz, -ss, then in the second person singular (du) instead of the suffix -st the suffix -t is added.

  • Translation
  • to use
  • Translation
  • to bite
  • Translation
  • to box
  • Translation
  • to brake
  • Translation
  • to shine
  • Translation
  • to match / to fit

This should be quite intuitive because otherwise it would be hard to pronounce verbs ending with -tst, -ßst, -xst, -sst.

Verb stem ending with -d, -t, -tm, -chn, -gn

When the verb stem ends with -d, -t, -tm, -chn, -gn, then in the second and third person singular and in the second person plural (du, er/sie/es, ihr), an additional -e needs to be added:

  • Translation
  • to find
  • Translation
  • to wait
  • Translation
  • to draw
  • Translation
  • to meet / to encounter
  • Translation
  • to breathe

Exceptions

  • Translation
  • to advise

This should also be quite intuitive because otherwise it would be hard to pronounce verbs without adding the -e suffix.

Verbs ending with -eln/-ern

When the verb stem ends with -eln/-ern, then in the first and third person plural (wir, sie/Sie) the letter e is discarded from the suffix (so that the suffix doesn't become -elen/-eren) and in the first person singular (ich) the letter e in the verb stem can be omitted:

  • Translation
  • to iron
  • Translation
  • to demand/require