Grammar

Regular verbs

German has regular and irregular verbs.

The majority of verbs are regular, meaning that their stem doesn't change when they are conjugated. Their endings change according to the person and number of the subject.

                        machen          lernen
Singular   ich   mache   lerne
    du   machst   lernst
    er/sie/es   macht   lernt
Plural   wir   machen   lernen
    ihr   macht   lernt
    sie   machen   lernen

 

For some regular verbs, an -e- is inserted before the ending in the 2nd and 3rd person singular and the 2nd person plural to make pronunciation easier:

                     warten
Singular   ich   warte
    du   wartest
    er/sie/es   wartet
Plural   wir   warten
    ihr   wartet
    sie   warten

 

For almost all verbs, the 1st and 3rd person plural in the present tense are the same as the infinitive.

Infinitive:         gehen             lernen         warten
wir   gehen   lernen   warten
sie   gehen   lernen   warten