Introduction to verbs in German
Verbs are often called 'doing words' in English. Most of them are exactly that: 'run', 'read', 'swim', 'talk' etc. But some, most commonly the verb 'to be' and the verb 'to have', are not. There is not much action going on, for example, in the phrases 'grass is green' or 'Rudolf has a red nose'.
The full form of the verb is called the infinitive. In English, the infinitive has the word 'to' in front, as in 'to sleep', 'to live', 'to eat', 'to drink' etc.
In German, almost all infinitives end in '-en', as in 'schlafen', 'wohnen', 'essen', 'trinken'. Some end in '-n', as in 'bummeln', to go for a stroll.
Verb endings
There are very few verb endings in English. For example, we say 'I work', but 'he works'; and in the past tense we say 'she worked'.
In German, there are more verb endings. First, you take off the '-en' or '-n' from the infinitive to leave the stem; then you add various endings to the stem. You can see this in the sections on the present tense and past tense.
Subject pronouns
Subject pronouns are:
| ich | I |
| wir | we |
| du | you (singular, familiar) |
| ihr | you (plural, familiar) |
| Sie | you (singular, polite) |
| Sie | you (plural, polite) |
| er | he/it |
| sie | she/it |
| sie | they (all genders) |
| es | it |
| man | one |
NB: The subject pronouns 'ich, du/Sie' and 'er/sie/es' are, in grammatical terms, called first, second and third person singular respectively. And 'wir, ihr/Sie' and 'sie' are first, second and third person plural respectively. These grammatical terms are not important in themselves, but are a useful shorthand way of referring to different parts of a verb.
Using 'you' with verbs
As you can see from the table above, there are different ways of saying 'you' in German. Use 'du' (singular) and 'ihr' (plural) when talking to:
- close friends and relatives
- children
- people you would naturally call by their first name.
Use 'Sie' (both singular and plural) when talking to:
- adult strangers or other adults in positions of authority
- people you would naturally address as 'Mr' or 'Mrs'.
NB: Note that 'Sie' used in this way always has a capital letter.
Using 'one' with verbs
While the use of 'one' in English is normally thought to be very formal, its equivalent in German, 'man', has no such overtones. It is used much more frequently in German where the very general 'you' would normally be used in English. It is particularly useful for beginners in the question: 'wie sagt man...?' ('How do you say...?')
| Wie sagt man 'book' auf Deutsch? | How do you say 'book' in German? |
NB: Note that 'man' used in this way has only one 'n', and does not have a capital letter. It should not be confused with the noun 'der Mann' meaning 'the man'.