What you’ll be able to do
By the end of this lesson, you will conjugate any regular German verb in the present tense. You will recognise the pattern, apply it to new verbs you meet, and start building your own sentences about what you and others do every day.
The idea
German verbs change their endings depending on who is doing the action. This is called conjugation. The good news: most German verbs follow one predictable pattern. Once you learn it, you can use it for hundreds of verbs.
Start with the infinitive — the dictionary form ending in -en or -n. Remove that ending to get the stem. Then add the correct ending for the person.
Here is the full pattern for regular verbs, using machen (to make / to do) as the example:
| Person | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ich (I) | -e | ich mache |
| du (you, informal) | -st | du machst |
| er / sie / es (he / she / it) | -t | er macht |
| wir (we) | -en | wir machen |
| ihr (you, plural informal) | -t | ihr macht |
| sie / Sie (they / you formal) | -en | sie machen |
Notice that wir and sie/Sie keep the same form as the infinitive. The du form always adds -st. The third person singular (er/sie/es) adds -t. Everything else is straightforward.
See it in German
Here are real sentences using common regular verbs. Read each one aloud and notice the ending on the verb.
- Ich wohne in Berlin. (I live in Berlin.)
- Du spielst Fußball. (You play football.)
- Sie lernt Deutsch. (She is learning German.)
- Wir kaufen Brot. (We are buying bread.)
- Ihr arbeitet viel. (You all work a lot.)
- Sie wohnen in München. (They live in Munich.)
- Er frühstückt um acht Uhr. (He eats breakfast at eight o’clock.)
- Du antwortest auf Deutsch. (You answer in German.)
- Ich koche heute Abend. (I am cooking this evening.)
- Wir besuchen unsere Freunde. (We are visiting our friends.)
Every verb above follows the same pattern. The stem stays the same; only the ending changes. This is why regular verbs are your fastest route to building sentences.
Read it in the wild
Now find this pattern in a real German text. On this site, every article has an A1-A2 German version with a vocabulary box. Open any article — for example, one from the [INTERNAL: City Guides] or [INTERNAL: Daily Life & Culture] section — and do this:
Task: Find five conjugated verbs in the present tense. Write each one down, then name its infinitive. For example, if you find wohnt, write wohnt → wohnen.
This works because you already know the pattern. When you see lernt, you can work backwards: remove -t, add -en, and you have lernen. That is how reading builds your grammar without drills.
Remember: you need to understand 95–98% of the words in a text to learn from it naturally. The A1-A2 versions are written at exactly that level. Use the vocabulary box for the two or three words you do not know, then read the whole text through.
Common mistakes
Here are the errors learners make most often with regular verbs — and how to fix them.
- Forgetting the -e on ich. You might write ich wohne correctly, then slip and write ich wohn. The -e is required. Always include it: ich mache, ich lerne, ich koche.
- Adding -st to er/sie/es. The du form takes -st, but the third person singular takes only -t. It is er macht, never er machst.
- Mixing up ihr and er/sie/es. Both take -t, but ihr is the plural “you” (a group you are speaking to), while er/sie/es is one person or thing. Check who you are talking about.
- Dropping the stem change on verbs ending in -t or -d. Some verbs, like arbeiten, need an extra -e before the ending for easier pronunciation: ich arbeite, du arbeitest, er arbeitet. You will see this pattern as you read more. For now, notice it when it appears.
- Using the infinitive instead of the conjugated form. In English you say “I to live” — no, you do not. In German, the same rule applies. It is ich wohne, not ich wohnen.
Where you are now
This is lesson 14 of 49. You have just moved from articles to verbs — from naming things to describing actions. Your previous lesson, A, An, The: German Articles in the Nominative, gave you the building blocks for subjects. Now you can attach verbs to those subjects and make real sentences. Your next lesson, Talk About Your Family and the People You Know, will put everything together with possessive words and more verb practice. If you want the full picture of how reading drives your progress, revisit the hub article: How to Learn German by Reading: Your Complete Roadmap.
