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.