Good German Grammar Guide: Konjugation, an Introduction to

Basic Verb Conjugation

© André Klein, 2020

learnoutlive.com

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Table of Contents

Introduction...........................................................................5
A Note From The Author..............................................6
1. What's Conjugation?......................................................7
3 Things You Should Know About Conjugation.....8
2. How Does It Work?..........................................................9
3 Steps From Infinitive To Verb.................................10
Overview & Summary............................................18
The Most Notable Exception.....................................23
3. Why Don't You Try It Yourself?.................................25
Level 1: “Six persons, four endings“.........................27
Level 2: “Two more, please!”.......................................28
Level 3: “To be or not to be...”.....................................29
Level 4: ”Now everyone...“...........................................30
Answer Key.....................................................................31
Further Links & Resources.........................................35
About the Author...............................................................36
Get Free News & Updates................................................37
You Might Also Like.....................................................38

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Introduction

Some people say that German grammar is impossibly

difficult. And while it's true that it can seem daunting
for beginners, it all depends on the approach.
Instead of overwhelming you with hundreds of
pages crammed with theories this short guide will
introduce you to a core concept in bite-sized bits, as
painlessly as possible.
The explanations are simplified, keeping jargon to
a minimum, so that even learners without previous
grammar studies can effortlessly follow along.
Last but not least, at the end you'll find a bunch of
exercises to test your knowledge.

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A Note From The Author

I've been teaching languages to both adults and child-

ren for more than a decade. Over the course of these
years I noticed that grammar is both a) necessary and
b) evil.
What I mean by “evil” is that many people (both
young and old) are seriously troubled by it. It's not
just that there are so many rules (and their excep-
tions) which have to be memorized, even talking
about grammar requires the knowledge of a variety
of different terms and concepts.
In other words, it can seem mind-boggling at first.
But the better you understand basic grammatical
concepts, the faster you can grow your overall skills.
Even if you know nothing about German gramm-
ar, by the end of this short book you‘ll have a confi-
dent grasp on how to form (regular) German verbs in
the present tense and start conjugating like a pro.

- André Klein, 2020

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1. What's Conjugation?

In this (very short) first part we'll look (very

broadly) at the general concept of conjugation.

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3 Things You Should Know
About Conjugation

1. Conjugation is how we change verbs (words descri-

bing actions) to fit a situation.

2. The process of conjugation always starts with the

infinitive (basic form of a verb).

3. There are patterns to conjugation which consist of

rules and exceptions.

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2. How Does It Work?

In this second part you'll learn the nuts and bolts

of basic German conjugation.

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3 Steps From Infinitive To Verb

1. Find the infinitive! The infinitive is like the

factory-setting of a verb. Whenever things get
complicated, returning to the infinitive is a good plan.
How to find it? In German, the infinitive always ends
with “-en” ( Examples: essen, schlafen, sagen).
Also, when you look up a verb in a dictionary, it will
always give you the infinitive.

2. Split off the “-en”! What's left we call the stem.

For example, the stem of “sagen” (to say) is simply
“sag-”. These stems aren't full-blown verbs yet, but
they are a great starting point.

3. Add the endings “-e, -st, -t, -en, -t, -en” depen-
ding on what you need at the moment. Example:
if you want to say “I say” you take the stem “sag-”
and add “-e” so that it becomes “Ich sage”.

Sounds complicated? Here's a picture of the three

steps:

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 Simple, isn't it?

Question: “Great! But how do I know

which of these endings to pick?”

Good question! These endings make up the toolkit

to build basic sentences and learning how to use
them correctly is the first step towards mastering
German grammar.
Most textbooks will show you tables, and I‘ll show
you one, too, but first let's go through them one by
one, accompanied by my dubious drawing skills:

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1st person singular (“I”)

„Ich sage“

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2nd person singular (“you”)

„Du sagst“

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3rd person singular (“he”, “she”, “it”)

„Er sagt“
„Sie sagt“
„Es sagt“

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1st person plural (“we“)

„Wir sagen“

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2nd person plural (“you”)

„Ihr sagt“

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3rd person plural (“they”)

„Sie sagen“

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Overview & Summary
Here's the same rule again at one glance:

Singular (only one person) ending

1st ich sage -e
2nd du sagst -st
3rd er / sie / es sagt -t

Plural (more than one person) ending

1st wir sagen -en
2nd ihr sagt -t
3rd sie sagen -en

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 Notes:

To memorize these forms more easily, you can use

the following three rules:

➔ 1st and 3rd person plural are exactly like the

infinitive
➔ 3rd person singular is exactly like 2nd person
plural
➔ 2nd person singular is just like 3rd singular and
2nd plural, only with an “s”

Sounds complicated? Here's an overview:

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Do you see the pattern? In the end, although there
are six different pronouns (or persons) they share the
same four endings!

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 Question: “So these four forms are basi-
cally all I need to know?”

Yes, these four forms (-e, st, -t, -en) cover most needs
when talking about the present tense. However, you
should note that there are two other ways to use two
of these endings.

3rd sg. man sagt -t

3rd pl. Sie sagen -en

As you can see, “man” and “Sie” (capital S) use the

same ending as 3rd person singular and 3rd personal
plural. But what are they good for?

➔ “Sie” is used when addressing one or more

people politely or formally. Example:
“Möchten Sie etwas trinken, Herr Meier?” - “Do
you care for a drink, Mr. Meier?”
➔ “Man” is a so-called indefinite pronoun. It
refers to a person without identifying it closer.
Example: “Man kann das machen.” - “You
can do that / One can do that.”

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The good news here is that you don't have to learn
any additional new endings. “Man” and “Sie” work
just like “he” and “sie”.

ATTENTION: While the six different endings

we discussed apply to many German verbs, there is a
variety of verbs that also change their stem when
being conjugated. These pesky exceptions!

For now, it's enough to keep just know that they

exist. These irregular verbs are also called “starke
Verben” (strong verbs) in contrast to the regular
“schwache Verben” (weak verbs).

Although we won't go into discussing “starke Verben”

in this unit, we will look at one such a misfit case
which doesn't seem to follow our rule at all but is
nevertheless one of the most frequently used German
verbs.

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The Most Notable Exception

„Sein oder nicht sein, das ist die Frage.“ - Hamlet

The German verb “sein” - “to be” acts very stran-

gely, but it can become a good friend if you familiari-
ze yourself with its oddities. Have a look:

Singular (only one person)

1st ich bin
2 nd
du bist
3rd er / sie / es ist

Plural (more than one person)

1st wir sind
2 nd
ihr seid
3rd sie sind

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 Notes:

It's strange that all these forms of one verb are so

different, isn't it? It's almost as if the singular and
plural forms belong to completely different verbs.
Well, they do, that is – they did: the history of this
verb is an ancient one spanning a number of different
languages and iterations. All of these then became
fused in the modern German verb “sein” (Wikipedia
has a a nice geeky chart that gives you an overview
of what we're dealing with here).

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3. Why Don't You Try It
Yourself?

„Probieren geht über studieren.“ - German saying

Now that you've learned about the theory, let's

put that knowledge into practice. (The correct
answers you can find all the way at the end.) Ready?
Let's go!

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 Note:

Writing your answers down on a piece of paper (or

electronic equivalent) is a good way to familiarize
yourself with these forms and their spelling. Just
doing these exercises in your mind is also okay, but
writing your conjugations down will make them even
stickier.

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Level 1: “Six persons, four end-
ings“

1. Peter _____ (gehen) zur Schule.

2. Wir _____ (rennen) nach Hause.
3. Ich _____ (lieben) Beethoven.
4. Du _____ (kaufen) Schokolade.
5. Sie _____ (fragen) eine Frage.
6. Er _____ (leben) in Hamburg.
7. Es _____ (regnen) in London.
8. Ihr _____ (spielen) Tennis.
9. Du _____ (gucken) auf dein Smartphone.
10. Ich _____ (rauchen) nicht.

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Level 2: “Two more, please!”

Now, let's see if we can do the same with the

polite or formal “Sie” and the undefined “man”. Some
sentences are questions, so make sure to capitalize
your verbs if they're at the beginning.

1. Man _____ (schreiben) Briefe heute elektro-

nisch.
2. Sie _____ (lernen) sehr gut!
3. _____ (haben) Sie eine Katze?
4. Man _____ (hören) viel über den Krieg.
5. _____ (wohnen) Sie auch in Berlin?
6. Warum _____ (antworten) Sie nicht?
7. Man _____ (singen) Lieder im Chor.
8. _____ (kochen) Sie gerne Spaghetti?
9. Wo _____ (sitzen) Sie?
10. Man _____ (surfen) den ganzen Tag im Inter-
net.

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Level 3: “To be or not to be...”

Let's take a look at our first irregular verb “sein”.

1. Du _____ (sein) sehr nett.

2. Wir _____ (sein) aus Italien.
3. Ich _____ (sein) glücklich.
4. Ihr _____ (sein) gut im Tennis!
5. Das Wetter _____ (sein) schlecht.
6. Sie _____ (sein) Sekretärin.
7. Peter _____ (sein) Pilot.
8. _____ (sein) du der neue Student?
9. Das _____ (sein) das beste Restaurant in der
Stadt.
10. Ich _____ (sein) Programmierer.

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Level 4: ”Now everyone...“

Do you feel comfortable with conjugating

German verbs, yet? If not, please repeat level 1-3. If
you do, let's now add everything we've learned to the
mix!

1. Wo _____ (sein) mein Autoschlüssel?

2. Sie _____ (hören) den ganzen Tag nur die
Beatles.
3. _____ (leben) man gut in Deutschland?
4. Du _____ (schreiben) sehr schöne Briefe.
5. Maria _____ (haben) schöne Augen.
6. Ich _____ (gehen) mit meinem Hund spazie-
ren.
7. _____ (haben) du viel Arbeit heute?
8. Wieviel _____ (kosten) das Radio?
9. Wo _____ (sein) die Toiletten, bitte?
10. Ihr _____ (kommen) aus Norwegen.

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Answer Key

Hey, you've made it! Here are the correct

answers:

Level 1:

1. geht
2. rennen
3. liebe
4. kaufst
5. fragt / fragen (it could be one person or many)
6. lebt
7. regnet
8. spielt
9. guckst
10. rauche

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Level 2:

1. schreibt
2. lernen
3. haben
4. hört
5. Wohnen
6. antworten
7. singt
8. kochen
9. sitzen
10. surft

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Level 3:

1. bist
2. sind
3. bin
4. seid
5. ist
6. ist
7. ist
8. bist
9. ist
10. bin

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Level 4:

1. Ist
2. hören
3. Lebt
4. schreibst
5. hat
6. gehe
7. Hast
8. kostet
9. sind
10. kommt

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Further Links & Resources

Need some more exercises? Have a look at these

free resources*:

➔ great exercises for the verb “sein” at mein-

deutschbuch.de: (scroll to bottom here for
links to PDF and online exercises)
➔ more exercises for regular verb conjugation at
mein-deutschbuch.de: online exercises
(part 1, part 2) and PDF
➔ even more exercises for regular verb conjuga-
tion via Toms Deutschseite: online exerci-
ses

*while I meticulously checked these links, I can't

guarantee that they'll always be online in the current
form, nor can I take responsibility for any inaccuracies
or technical issues regarding their content. Thank you
for your understanding.

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About the Author
André Klein was born in Germany,
grew up in Sweden and Thailand and
currently lives in Israel. He has been
teaching languages for more than 15
years and is the author of various
short stories, picture books and non-
fiction works in English and German.

Website: andreklein.net
Twitter: twitter.com/barrencode
Blog: learnoutlive.com/blog

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