In English, there are two ways of saying an action is taking place in the present tense.

For example: 'I play' and 'I am playing'. In German, there is just one way! Ich spiele.

Most verbs have the same pattern in the present tense. Take the '-en' off the infinitive (for example, spielen = spiel) and then add the endings as below:

Verbs which end in '-ten', '-den' or '-nen', keep the 'e' before the '-t' and '-st' endings. This makes them easier to pronounce.

For example:

du findest

er arbeitet

Some verbs are irregular and change after du and er / sie / es. The rest of the verb operates like spielen. Here are some examples of the useful ones:

If you are unsure whether a verb is irregular, look it up in the verb table in a German-English dictionary. The verb table is usually towards the back of the dictionary.

The two irregular verbs that you really need to know very well are:

sein = to be; haben = to have

Sein = to be

Haben = to have

Don't forget! If you want to say someone is doing something and you use their name rather than he or she, then you still use the 'he / she' part of the verb. For example, Martin spielt. Er spielt.

If you have two or more people doing the action of the verb, then you would use the 'they' part of the verb. For example, Martin und Peter spielen Fussball. Sie spielen Fussball.

Complete these sentences with the correct part of the verb shown in brackets. Here is an example:

Ich ____ jeden Tag Tennis. (spielen)

Answer: Ich spiele jeden Tag Tennis.

The perfect tense is used when we want to talk about things that have happened in the past - for example, yesterday, last year, an hour ago. In English we say either 'I played' or 'I have played'. In German, we say, 'Ich habe gespielt'.

The perfect tense is formed with:

The correct part of haben + ge...t or ge...en at the end (past participle)

For example:

Boris hat Fussball gespielt. (spielen) = Boris played football.

Ich habe einen Apfel gegessen. (essen) = I ate an apple.

Some verbs, which are usually verbs describing movement or change, are formed with:

The correct part of sein + ge...en at the end (past participle)

For example:

Ich bin nach Spanien geflogen. (fliegen) = I flew to Spain.

Peter ist mit dem Zug gefahren. (fahren) = Peter went by train.

Many verbs are regular, like "spielen", but there are some that are irregular, like "essen", "fliegen" and "fahren". You can always check in the verb list at the back of a German-English dictionary if you are not sure. Try and learn the ones you use often!

Here are some examples of the ones you will probably use most often:

In German, the imperfect tense is used mainly in written German when writing about something that has happened in the past. There are also a small number of verbs that are often used in this tense.

The imperfect tense is the 'single word' past tense, such as 'thought', 'gave', 'had', etc.

Here are the verbs that are frequently used in imperfect in spoken German:

To form the imperfect tense for regular verbs, such as 'spielen', you take off the '-en' from the infinitive and add the endings as below:

ich spielte

du spieltest

er / sie / es spielte

wir spielten

ihr spieltet

Sie spielten

Irregular verbs have different rules for the imperfect. You will find them listed in the verb table in a German-English dictionary. They have different endings:

ich gab

du gabst

er / sie / es gab

wir gaben

ihr gabt

sie spielten

sie gaben

Here are some of the verbs you may meet most often:

In German, you can use the present tense to talk about events in the future.

For example:

Fährst du morgen in die Stadt? = Are you going to town tomorrow?

The real future tense in German is formed with the appropriate part of the verb 'werden' plus the infinitive, which goes to the end of the sentence or clause.

For example:

Ich werde morgen mit dem Bus in die Stadt fahren = Tomorrow I will go to town by bus.

So, you just need to make sure you know 'werden' really well and then you just put the infinitive of the verb you are going to do at the end.

Werden:

ich werde

du wirst

er / sie / es wird

wir werden

ihr werdet

sie werden

This is formed just like the future tense, but instead of saying 'Ich werde...+ infinitive at end' you say 'Ich würde...+ infinitive at end'. = I would do something...

For example: Ich würde gern auf dem Land wohnen.

If you want to say, 'I could do something' = Ich könnte...+ infinitive at end.

'I would like...' = Ich möchte...+ infinitive at end.

To say 'I would be' = Ich wäre.

To say 'I would have' = Ich hätte