German Grammar Explained /

Verb Conjugation

Verbs are the words that bring the “act” into any action. Because of this, they are essential for most sentences to make any sense whatsoever. To specify various things about the actions that they convey, verbs change in various different ways in different languages.
Verbs in German change their endings to match their subject. This is called conjugation. Most verbs in German are conjugated according to predictable rules.
If we’re talking about the present in German, be this the present simple (something happens now or always) or continuous (something is happening now), we conjugate (change) verbs by removing their -en ending and adding a new, conjugated, ending.
1. Ending for ich
kommen
ich komme
wohnen
ich wohne
sprechen
ich spreche
verstehen
ich verstehe
Ich komme aus Stuttgart.
I come from Stuttgart.
2. Ending for du
kommen
du kommst
wohnen
du wohnst
sprechen
du sprichst
verstehen
du verstehst
Wohnst du in Rom?
Do you live in Rome?
3. Ending for er/sie/es
kommen
er/sie/es kommt
wohnen
er/sie/es wohnt
sprechen
er/sie/es spricht
verstehen
er/sie/es versteht
Er spricht fließend Spanisch und Englisch.
He speaks Spanish and English fluently.
This is how most verbs are conjugated in the singular in German. Not too hard, right? It takes a little getting used to, but you'll get the hang of this is no time. But what about if we want to conjugate in the plural?
The plural pronouns we need for this are wir, ihr and sie (we, you and they). Again, we take the -en ending and modify it at our convenience.
1. Ending for wir:
kommen
wir kommen
wohnen
wir wohnen
sprechen
wir sprechen
Wir wohnen in München.
We live in Munich.
2. Ending for ihr:
kommen
kommt
wohnen
wohnt
sprechen
sprecht
Sprecht ihr Deutsch?
Do you (plural) speak German?
3. Ending for sie:
kommen
kommen
wohnen
wohnen
sprechen
sprechen
As you can see we sometimes don’t even need to change verb at all! You may also have noticed that there are various ways of saying the word “you” in German making the distinction between singular you (formal and informal) and plural you.
The formal Sie uses the same conjugated form as sie, so there's no need to learn anything extra :)
Sie kommen aus Spanien.
They come from Spain.
Woher kommen Sie?
Where are you (formal) from?
That's it! Now you know all of the forms of conjugation. Remember, it's okay to make mistakes as practice makes perfect! :)
The German es is not necessarily translatable with the English "it". It is much more about the gender of the nouns.
Talking about "the table", German: der Tisch
Er ist schön.
It is beautiful.
Talking about "the sun", German: die Sonne
Sie ist warm.
It is warm.
Talking about "the baby", German: das Baby
Es ist laut.
He/She is loud.