Das Präsens (The German Present Tense)

The German Present Tense is the most used tense in the German language. It's actually used to talk about both the present and the future.

•   „Das ist Felix!“
•   „Was macht er?“
•   „Er geht zum Fußballtraining.

Constructing the German Present Tense (Präsens)

German Present Tense conjugation: Regular Verbs

All verbs in German end in „-en“. When you conjugate a verb in the present tense, you first have to remove that „-en“ and then replace it with another ending (based on the subject - the person or thing that is doing the action). Here are the endings for the German Present Tense:

Conjugation of Strong verbs in the German Present Tense

What are strong verbs? Some verbs require you to change a vowel when conjugating in the present tense. We call these verbs Strong verbs.

The vowel change only takes place in the 2nd and 3rd person singular ("you," "he," "she," "it"). And the endings are the same as with regular verbs.

Possible Vowel Changes:

• from „e“ to „ie“ or „i“ or
• from „a“ to „ä“

We don't change every single verb with an „e“ and „a“ in it, but it is very common. 

Also, we never change  „i“, „o“ and „u“. 

Irregular Verbs

Some verbs don't follow ANY rules when you're conjugating them: Luckily this is quite rare, so you only have to memorize a few verbs of this sort.

Here are three important examples:

Irregular Endings in the German Present Tense

Verb stems ending in „d“ or „t“

If the verb stem ends in „-d“ or „-t“ place an „e“ before the endings „-st“ and „-t“

• arbeiten: „du arbeitest“, „er arbeitet“, „ihr arbeitet“

Exception: when there's a vowel change (rare)

• laden: „du lädst“, „er lädt“, „ihr ladet“
• halten: „du hältst, „er hält“, „ihr haltet“

Verb stems ending in „s“, „ß“, „x“ or „z“

If the verb stem ends in „-s“, „-ß“, „-x“ or „-z“ take away the „s“ from the ending in 2nd person singular.

• heißen: „du heißt“   (wrong: du heißst)
• tanzen: „du tanzt“  (wrong: du tanzst)

Verbs ending in „-eln/-ern“

For the (rare) verbs that end in „-eln/-ern“ ONLY the „n“ is the ending. When conjugating, take away only the „n“. Then add the normal ending.

⇒  In 1st and 3rd person plural, the added ending is only an „n“.

For verbs that end in „-eln“ in 1st person singular the „e“ before the „l“ is taken away.