Present tenseWeak verbs

This is the pattern that weak verbs follow:

1. Start with an infinitive, eg lernen
2. Next, you need to chop off the -en at the end of the infinitive form. What is left is called the stem, eg lern-
3. Decide which ending you need according to who's doing the action (the subject), eg ich, du, wir, Sie, etc
4. Finally, add the correct present tense ending to the stem, eg lern- > ich lerne Deutsch – I'm learning German.

Using the verb hören as an example, you can see how you add these endings to the stem of a weak verb:

Did you know?

German speakers call each other Sie until they become better friends. They use the weak verb siezen which means 'to call someone Sie' to describe this fact.

People will usually agree when to start using du by using the special verb duzen, which means to call someone du – Wir können uns jetzt duzen means 'We can call each other du now'.

Ich duze dich, aber ich sieze Sie can be translated as 'I call you you, but I call you you'. It sounds very strange in English, but makes perfect sense in German.

All family members of any age will always say du to each other.