Regular Present Tense

To conjugate a regular verb, start with the Infinitive (the dictionary form). Most verbs end in -en, but some end only in -n (like sammeln or wandern). Remove the -en or -n to find the Stem. Then, add these endings:

• ich (I): -e
• du (you, informal): -st
• er/sie/es (he/she/it): -t
• wir (we): -en (or -n for -eln/-ern verbs)
• ihr (you all): -t
• sie/Sie (they/you, formal): -en (or -n for -eln/-ern verbs). Note: The formal Sie must always be capitalized to distinguish it from sie (she/they).

Special Rules:
1. Dental and Nasal Stems: If the stem ends in -d or -t (like arbeiten), or in a consonant followed by -m or -n (like atmen or rechnen), add an extra -e- before -st and -t in the du, er/sie/es, and ihr forms for easier pronunciation (e.g., du arbeitest, er atmet, ihr arbeitet). Exceptions: This does not apply if the preceding consonant is -l, -r, -h, -m, or -n (e.g., du lernst, du wohnst, du kommst).
2. Sibilant Stems: If the stem ends in -s, -ss, -ß, -z, or -x (like tanzen), the -s in the du ending is dropped (e.g., du tanzt).
3. Verbs in -eln/-ern: For verbs like sammeln or wandern, the wir and sie/Sie forms simply match the infinitive (adding only -n to the stem). Additionally, for verbs ending in -eln, the -e- in the stem is usually dropped in the ich form (e.g., ich sammle), while verbs ending in -ern typically keep the -e- (e.g., ich wandere). Note that in everyday spoken German, the final -e of the ich form is frequently dropped entirely for these verbs (e.g., ich sammel, ich wander), though this remains non-standard for formal writing.
4. Progressive Meaning: Since there is no 'ing' form, use the adverb gerade (currently) if you want to emphasize that something is happening right now: Ich lerne gerade (I am learning right now).
5. Strong Verbs: Watch out for strong verbs that look regular but have a stem vowel change in the du and er/sie/es forms (e.g., sprechen -> du sprichst). Note that irregular verbs like sein and haben follow their own patterns.