German Conjugations
Conjugations are the changes a verb goes through depending on who is doing the action. Fortunately, conjugations follow some simple rules. All you have to do is change the ending of the verb according to the appropriate rule. There are also some exceptions; it wouldn’t be German if there weren’t any.
In this lesson, we will have a look at the regular German conjugations.
Resources for further reading:
How to pronounce German conjugations
Let’s start with the present tense and see how the verb endings change. Most verbs end in either –en or –n . Each type of verb (- en or – n) has a different set of endings.
-en verbs lachen (to laugh)
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ich lach-e
I laugh
du lach-st
You laugh
er lach-t
He laughs
sie lach-t
She laughs
es lach-t
It laughs
wir lach-en
We laugh
ihr lach-t
You (plural) laugh
sie lach-en
They laugh/You (polite) laugh
-en verbs segeln (to sail)
ich segel-e
I sail
du segel-st
You sail
er segel-t
He sails
sie segel-t
She sails
es segel-t
It sails
wir segel-n
We sail
ihr segel-t
You (plural) sail
sie segel-n
They sail/You (polite) sail
For example:
Sie lacht immer
She is always laughing
Wir segeln um die Welt
We are sailing around the world
Wir lachen über die gleichen Witze
We laugh at the same jokes
Er segelt mit seinen Freunden
He sails with his friends
Now let's see how regular verbs behave in the simple past tense.
-en verbs lachen (to laugh)
ich lach-te
I laughed
du lach-test
You laughed
er lach-te
He laughed
sie lach-te
She laughed
es lach-te
It laughed
wir lach-ten
We laughed
ihr lach-tet
You (plural) laughed
sie lach-ten
They laughed/You (polite) laughed
-n verbs segeln (to sail)
ich segel-te
I sailed
du segel-test
You sailed
er segel-te
He sailed
sie segel-te
She sailed
es segel-te
It sailed
wir segel-ten
We sailed
ihr segel-tet
You (plural) sailed
sie segel-ten
They sailed/You (polite) sailed
Zum Beispiel:
Sie lachte immer.
She was always laughing.
Wir segelten um die Welt.
We sailed around the world.
Wir lachten über die gleichen Witze.
We laughed at the same jokes.
Er segelte mit seinen Freunden.
He sailed with his friends.
As you can see, the endings for the simple past tense are similar to those of the present tense. There are just a few more t's... But what about the past participle? Finding the p.p. of regular verbs is really easy: you simply take the stem and add "ge" and "t" in this fashion:
- ge + stem + t
So you will have:
Ich lache.
I laugh.
Ich habe gelacht.
I have laughed.
Ich segele.
I sail.
Ich habe gesegelt.
I have sailed.
Ich bin gesegelt.
I have sailed.
Ich mache.
I do.
Ich habe gemacht.
I have done.
Ich frage.
I ask.
Ich habe gefragt.
I have asked.
Ich spiele.
I play.
Ich habe gespielt.
I have played.
Ich baue.
I build.
Ich habe gebaut.
I have built.
Ich sage.
I say.
Ich habe gesagt.
I have said.
You'll have noticed that gesegelt can be preceded by either sein or haben. Unlike English, German uses both auxiliary when composing the present perfect tense. A quick way to tell when to use sein and when to use haben is this: you use the auxiliary sein if you have a status change or a motion, as in "I have gone to Berlin", ich bin nach Berlin gegangen, and you use the auxiliary haben for all the other verbs.
Our lesson on conjugations wouldn't be complete, however, without a quick glance at the future tense. How is this made? We've already seen the present conjugation of the irregular verb werden in one of the previous lessons, and this is all we need. There are no subject endings in the future tense, because all you have to do is pick the right conjugation of werden and add the base verb you need!
-en verbs lachen (to laugh)
ich werde lachen
I will laugh
du wirst lachen
You will laugh
er wird lachen
He will laugh
sie wird lachen
She will laugh
es wird lachen
It will laugh
wir werden lachen
We will laugh
ihr werdet lachen
You (plural) will laugh
sie werden lachen
They will laugh/You (polite) will laugh
-n verbs segeln (to sail)
ich werde segeln
I will sail
du wirst segeln
You will sail
er wird segeln
He will sail
sie wird segeln
She will sail
es wird segeln
It will sail
wir werden segeln
We will sail
ihr werdet segeln
You (plural) will sail
sie werden segeln
They will sail/You (polite) will sail
Here are a few recommended German lessons to try next!
- The German consonants are fairly easy to pronounce, you just need to remember the rules!
- Check out this lesson on the German dative.
- Click here for a lesson on the German genitive.
Bis bald!
Paul Weber: Rocket German
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