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German Lesson 4: Conjugations in Present Tense
15 years ago
Pronounciation help: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhjeycq9Jeg
Unlike the English language, which has two present tenses,
1.) Present simple: "I do"
2.) Present progressive: "I'm doing"
the German language has only one present tense called "Präsens".
So far this seems simpler than English .. but sadly it's not XD
Unlike in the English language, German verbs (Verben) have to be conjugated, which means they change depending on the person who executes them.
For example the verb "do" in English:
I do, you do, he does (the only exception where it changes), they do, we do .. etc. The verb is (almost) always unchanged.
When you look up German verbs you will usually find their invinitive, that means their unconjugated form, which is recognizable by the ending "-en".
Let's do this with an example. The German word for "to make" is "machen". It's a completely regular verb, so it's a good example for how all regular German verbs are conjugated in present tense.
As you see, the word consits of the ending "-en" and another part, which we call root. In this case "mach".
Regular verbs only change their ending depending on the performer, while the root is always the same.
=singular=
1.) I make - ich mache
2.) you make - du machst
3.) he/she/it makes - er/sie/es macht
=plural=
1.) we make - wir machen
2.) you make - ihr macht
3.) they make - sie machen
Example sentences:
(Side note: Germans say they make homework, not they do it)
E: I'm doing homework.
G: Ich mache Hausaufgaben. (new vocab ;3 )
E: We do homework.
G: Wir machen Hausaufgaben.
E: Peter and Edd are doing homework.
G: Peter und Edd machen Hausaufgaben. (Peter+Edd -> they)
Alright, now it's time to get interactive!
Exercise: Pick one of the following regular German verbs and make all present conjugations for it.
to say - sagen
to tell - reden
to walk - gehen
to stay - stehen
to paint - malen
to write - schreiben
to love - lieben
to kill - töten (This one is tricky, because the 2nd person singular is not exactly according to the rules I stated above. Maybe you'll find it out ;3 )
Post your result as comment. I'll try to check and correct it if necessary, as fast as possible. Good luck! Viel Glück! :3
Unlike the English language, which has two present tenses,
1.) Present simple: "I do"
2.) Present progressive: "I'm doing"
the German language has only one present tense called "Präsens".
So far this seems simpler than English .. but sadly it's not XD
Unlike in the English language, German verbs (Verben) have to be conjugated, which means they change depending on the person who executes them.
For example the verb "do" in English:
I do, you do, he does (the only exception where it changes), they do, we do .. etc. The verb is (almost) always unchanged.
When you look up German verbs you will usually find their invinitive, that means their unconjugated form, which is recognizable by the ending "-en".
Let's do this with an example. The German word for "to make" is "machen". It's a completely regular verb, so it's a good example for how all regular German verbs are conjugated in present tense.
As you see, the word consits of the ending "-en" and another part, which we call root. In this case "mach".
Regular verbs only change their ending depending on the performer, while the root is always the same.
=singular=
1.) I make - ich mache
2.) you make - du machst
3.) he/she/it makes - er/sie/es macht
=plural=
1.) we make - wir machen
2.) you make - ihr macht
3.) they make - sie machen
Example sentences:
(Side note: Germans say they make homework, not they do it)
E: I'm doing homework.
G: Ich mache Hausaufgaben. (new vocab ;3 )
E: We do homework.
G: Wir machen Hausaufgaben.
E: Peter and Edd are doing homework.
G: Peter und Edd machen Hausaufgaben. (Peter+Edd -> they)
Alright, now it's time to get interactive!
Exercise: Pick one of the following regular German verbs and make all present conjugations for it.
to say - sagen
to tell - reden
to walk - gehen
to stay - stehen
to paint - malen
to write - schreiben
to love - lieben
to kill - töten (This one is tricky, because the 2nd person singular is not exactly according to the rules I stated above. Maybe you'll find it out ;3 )
Post your result as comment. I'll try to check and correct it if necessary, as fast as possible. Good luck! Viel Glück! :3
1) sagt
2) sagst
3) sagt
1) sagen
2) sagt
3) sagen
correct?
thank you btw! ^^
very helpful
but how would you pronounce these?
When you go on www.leo.org you can search for "sagen" and hear the voice example. Since the root always stays the same the pronounciations should be figurable. The emphasis is on the first sylable (from now on I'll make the sylable that is stressed in italic text). The s is soft.
I'll add a video link with the german alphabet to the journal
im more used to an english ch
and even a spanich ch
and the soft ch/sh sound that the ch sounds like in german... doesnt quite sound right...is it like
mA-she
ma-chE
... not really sure...
that actually helps a lot, refferencing something i know
danke
and in sage
is the e pronounced as an a?
like in danka
and the word yes is ja?
For vocabulary questions you should use the page I linked ;3
sorry, im just really curious ^^
ive always loved the german language
i loved germans much more when i found out i have german heritage (as well as russian)
germany almost took over europe TWICE!
and... HELLSING (its my fav anime)
omg, have you noticed how many animes have nazis?!
i know that japan and germany were part of the axis powers, but theres so much crap out of japan having to do with nazis
(i dont like to count italy as part of the axis powers because they really didnt do anything... :\ )
lol, sorry, i tend to go on and on about things XD