Präsens — present tense

German has only one present tense. You use it for what's happening now, for habits, for general facts, and — surprise — for the near future too. There's no -ing form to worry about. Ich lese covers both "I read" and "I am reading."

The pattern: stem + ending

Every German verb in the dictionary ends in -en (a handful end in -n). Chop that off, and what's left is the stem. You then bolt a personal ending onto the stem depending on who's doing the action.

Take machen (to make/do). Stem = mach-. Now the endings:

Five endings, one pattern. The er/sie/es and ihr forms are identical (-t); the wir and sie/Sie forms are identical and match the infinitive (-en). That's the whole regular system.

The small phonetic fix: -est and -et

If the stem already ends in -t, -d, or a consonant cluster that'd be hard to pronounce next to an ending, German slips in an extra -e- to make it speakable. You don't have to memorize which verbs; if it feels like a mouthful, that's your clue.

Three verbs you have to know cold: sein, haben, werden

These are the scaffolding of German — you use them constantly, on their own AND as helpers to build other tenses. They don't follow the regular pattern, so just memorize them now and you'll reuse the forms for the rest of your German life.

Things to notice:

• sein is irregular everywhere. Treat it like English to be: unique forms you just know.
• haben is mostly regular but drops the -b- in du and er/sie/es forms (hast, hat).
• werden also drops its -d- and changes the stem vowel in du/er/sie/es (wirst, wird).

Stem-changing verbs — the A1 trap

A small group of common verbs change their stem vowel in the du and er/sie/es forms. Other forms stay normal. There are three patterns, and once you know them you know them for life.

Common stem-changers to recognize: essen (isst), geben (gibt), helfen (hilft), nehmen (nimmt), lesen (liest), schlafen (schläft), laufen (läuft), fallen (fällt).

Dictionaries mark these, often as "(fährt)" next to the infinitive. If you don't see a note, it's regular.

Präsens also covers the near future

This is the big unlock for English speakers: if there's a time marker, Präsens comfortably covers tomorrow, next week, next year.

Speakers use Futur I (werden + infinitive) for predictions and assumptions, which you'll meet later. For plans with a time, Präsens wins.

Common mistakes, named

1. Conjugating the infinitive instead of the stem. Ich machenen. ❌ → Ich mache. ✓ Strip the -en, add the ending.

2. Forgetting the stem change. Er sprecht. ❌ → Er spricht. ✓ If the verb is a stem-changer, du and er/sie/es change. Ich stays regular.

3. Adding "-ing" in translation head-space. There is no -ing form. Ich lese = "I read" AND "I am reading." Don't try to build one.

4. Confusing sie / Sie / sie. Three meanings, same form: sie = she, sie = they, Sie = you (formal). All three conjugate the same way as the 3rd-person plural. Context sorts them out.

Mini check

Where this leads

Präsens is the engine. Next we meet the case that most new learners trip over first: Akkusativ, the case of direct objects. Good news — only one article changes from Nominativ.

Next up: Akkusativ — direct objects.

Test yourself