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German Present Tense — Regular Verbs
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One pattern that conjugates thousands of verbs: stems, endings, the e-insertion rule, and asking questions by inversion.
Stem + ending — the whole system
Regular German verbs (the vast majority) conjugate by dropping -en from the infinitive and adding endings: -e, -st, -t, -en, -t, -en. So lernen (to learn) gives ich lerne, du lernst, er lernt, wir lernen, ihr lernt, sie lernen. Notice that wir, sie (they) and Sie (formal you) always match the infinitive — three persons for free. Learn one verb fully and you can conjugate thousands.
The e-insertion rule
Stems ending in -d, -t or a consonant cluster like -mn, -fn insert an e before -st and -t so the word stays pronounceable: arbeiten (to work) gives du arbeitest, er arbeitet — never "du arbeitst". Similarly finden gives du findest. Stems ending in -s, -ß, -x, -z merge the ending: du heißt (not "heißst"), du sitzt.
Questions by inversion
Yes-no questions invert verb and subject: Lernst du Deutsch? (do you learn German?), Wohnt er in Berlin? (does he live in Berlin?). There is no "do" helper verb — the main verb moves to the front and does the job. W-questions (question words) put the verb second: Wo wohnst du? (where do you live?), Was lernst du? (what are you learning?). Answer yes with ja, no with nein.
Word order with two verbs
When a sentence has a modal verb (want, can, must) plus a main verb, the modal takes second position and the main verb goes to the very end in infinitive form: Ich möchte Deutsch lernen (I want to learn German), Er kann gut kochen (he can cook well). This "verb bracket" — conjugated verb second, infinitive last — is the single most important German sentence pattern after verb-second itself.
| Person | lernen (to learn) |
|---|---|
| ich | lerne |
| du | lernst |
| er / sie / es | lernt |
| wir | lernen |
| ihr | lernt |
| sie / Sie | lernen |