The present tense in German also called the simple present (Präsens) is used to talk about the present and future in German. We can translate it into one of three English tenses: the simple present, present progressive and future with will or going to. It is the most commonly used tense in the German language.

Learn the grammar rules, how to conjugate verbs and when to use the present tense with Learn German online.

Present Tense in German Grammar

The simple present (Präsens) is used to talk about the present and future in German. We can translate it into one of three English tenses: the simple present, present progressive and future with will or going to. It is the most commonly used tense in the German language.

Example

Usage

We use the German present tense to express:

• a fact or condition in the present

Example: 🔊 Listen Das ist Felix.

• an action that takes place in the present once, repeatedly, or never

Example: 🔊 Listen Jeden Dienstag geht er zum Fußballtraining.

• a action that expresses how long something has been going on

Example: 🔊 Listen Er spielt schon seit fünf Jahren Fußball.

• a future action that is already planned or agreed upon

Example: 🔊 Listen Nächsten Sonntag hat seine Mannschaft ein wichtiges Spiel.

Conjugation of German Verbs in Present Tense

To conjugate verbs in the German present tense, we remove the infinitive ending -en and add the following endings:

The verbs sein and haben are irregular:

Exceptions

• If the word stem ends in d/t, we add an e before the endings -st and -t.

Example: 🔊 Listen warten – du wartest, er wartet, ihr wartet

This doesn’t happen when the vowel changes. (In this case the t in the 3^rd person singular ending also disappears)

Example: 🔊 Listen laden – du lädst, er lädt, ihr ladet (vowel change a to ä) 🔊 Listen halten – du hältst, er hält, ihr haltet

• If the word stem ends in s/ß/x/z, we remove the s in the 2^nd person singular ending.

Example: 🔊 Listen tanzen – du tanzt (not: tanzst)

• If the word stem ends in ie, we remove the e in the ending

Example: 🔊 Listen knien – ich knie, wir knien, sie knien (not: kniee, knieen)

• The word stem changes in some strong verbs.

Example: 🔊 Listen lesen – ich lese, du liest, er liest, wir lesen, ihr lest, sie lesen

• If the infinitive ends in -eln/-ern, we remove the e in the ending.

Example: 🔊 Listen wandern – ich wandere, wir wandern, sie wandern

In the case of -eln, we can also leave off the e from the word stem in the 1^st person singular.

Example: 🔊 Listen lächeln – ich läch(e)le, wir lächeln, sie lächeln

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