Present tenseForming questions

Use the present tense to describe what is happening right now, what you do regularly or what you do in an ongoing situation.

Part ofGermanGrammar (for exams until 2025)

Forming questions

To ask a question in German, just swap the verb and the subject round, eg:

  • Du isst. – You eat/You are eating.
  • Isst du? – Do you eat?/Are you eating?
  • Sie fahren rechts. – They drive on the right.
  • Fahren sie rechts? – Do they drive on the right?
  • Deine Freunde kommen zur Party. – Your friends are coming to the party.
  • Kommen deine Freunde zur Party? – Are your friends coming to the party?

Question

Practise these strong verbs by translating these phrases:

  • she forgets (vergessen – to forget – goes like essen)
  • he travels (fahren)
  • you wear (singular, informal) – (tragen – to wear – like fahren)
  • I see (sehen)
  • he washes (waschen – to wash – like fahren)
  • Are you reading, granny? (lesen)