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A1Tenses

Present tense: regular verbs

Why is it “ich spiele” but “du spielst”?

Take a look

Ich lerne Deutsch.

I am learning German.

Take a look

  • Ich lerne Deutsch.I am learning German.
  • Du spielst Gitarre.You play the guitar.
  • Er arbeitet in Berlin.He works in Berlin.
  • Wir wohnen in Hamburg.We live in Hamburg.

The rule

Use the present tense for what happens now or regularly. With a regular verb, remove -en from the dictionary form and add a new ending: spielen becomes ich spiele, du spielst, er spielt. For wir and sie, the form is spielen again. The ending tells you who is doing the action. Some verb stems need an extra -e- before an ending to make pronunciation easier.

Remember: ich -e, du -st, er/sie/es -t.

Goes with lesson 9, 11, 12 of the course.

What differs for you

English changes many present-tense verbs only with he or she, so several subject forms look alike. German marks more persons with different endings. With “ich”, the course verbs end in -e: “ich arbeite”, “ich spiele”. The English subject alone may identify the person, but the German verb must show the matching ending too.

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The forms

spielen in the present tense

PersonForm
ichspiele
duspielst
er/sie/esspielt
wirspielen
ihrspielt
sie/Siespielen

Common mistakes

  • *ich spielstich spiele.
  • *du spieltdu spielst.
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Quick check

A1
  1. Conjugate the verb.machen (you)
  2. Conjugate the verb.arbeiten (he)
  3. Insert the correct verb form.Wir ___ gern Musik. (to hear)
  4. Choose the correct form.Er ___ ein Buch. (to read)
  5. Correct the mistake.Du fahrst nach Berlin.
  6. Conjugate the verb.sprechen (you)
  7. Insert the correct verb form.Ihr ___ sehr schnell. (to run)

The answers appear after “Check”.

The same exercises come back in the course — there Langula remembers what you know and asks again at the right moment. Learn German free →

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Tenses

A2The perfect: talking about the pastWhy do “hast” and “gemacht” appear together?A2War and hatte: the simple pastWhat does war show in “Gestern war ein schöner Tag”?B1Past perfectThe past perfect describes an action that took place before another action in the past.A2Konnte, musste, wollteHow do you use können for a past ability?B2Future perfectThe future perfect describes an action that will be completed at a future point in time.
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