How to conjugate verbs in the present tense (Präsens)

In German there are 8 personal pronouns: ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, sie, Sie; with these personal pronouns come different verb conjugations, which can be quite confusing if you don't yet have a clear understanding of them. But don't worry — if you grasp the rules below, conjugating verbs with these persons in the present tense (Präsens) will be as easy as pie.

The structure of a verb in German consists of 2 parts:

Verbstamm (verb stem) + verb ending

E.g.: In the verb gehen: Verbstamm (geh) + verb ending (en)

The majority of verbs end in –en, and some end in –n:

E.g.: sammeln: Verstamm (sammel) + verb ending (n)

When conjugating a verb, the Verstamm remains unchanged and the verb ending changes. Verbs are conjugated according to the rule of endings corresponding to the personal pronouns:

However, note the following verb groups:

1. Verbs whose stem ends in –s, -ß, -z:

Specifically, for the du form only –t needs to be added when conjugating the verb ending.

E.g.: heißen heißt

1. Verbs whose stem ends in –t, -d, -chn, ..Especially with the pronouns du and er/sie/es, when conjugating verb endings, an –e must be added before adding the ending corresponding to the pronoun.

VD: reden à du: redest, er/sie/es: redet

1. Group of verbs whose stem contains a, e:

When conjugating these verbs, special attention must be paid to the pronouns du and er/sie/es in certain cases:

a -> ä (fangen à du: fängst, es/ sie/ es: fängst)

e -> ie or i (nehmen à du: nimmst, er/ sie/ es: nimmt)

1. Group of irregular verbs:

Just as English has irregular verbs, so does German. These verbs follow no rules when conjugated, because during conjugation their stem changes and they become a word with a completely new spelling. Therefore, we must memorize and learn the following verbs by heart:

• Auxiliary verbs Hilfsverben: sein, haben, werden:

• Modal verbs Modalverben: müssen, können, mögen, wollen, sollen, dürfen:

• Special verb: wissen

1. Separable verbs (trennbare Verben)

Separable verbs are divided into two parts: the prefix and the base verb.

Example: ankommen consists of the prefix an and the base verb kommenIn the present tense, the prefixes are separated from the verb and placed at the end of the sentence, while the base verb is placed in the second position and follows the conjugation rules mentioned above.

Example: Der Zug kommt um 19Uhr an.

The prefix an- is separated and placed at the end of the sentence, and the verb kommen is conjugated in the third person singular (Verbstamm + t) as kommt.

!!! Note: It is necessary to distinguish between separable verbs and inseparable verbs. Separable verbs typically contain the prefixes ab-, auf-, ein-, mit-, vor-, an-, aus-, zu-,.....