How Conjugate Regular German Verbs in the present

Regular German verbs end in the syllable en. Remove this syllable, and you get what is called the stem
of the verb. To the stem, you add different endings. Which ending you add depends on who youre
talking about. So there are different endings for the German words for I, you, etc. Well use the
regular verb spielen, to begin, as a model:


Stem: spiel-


Ich spiel-e wir spiel-en Sie spiel-en
Du spiel-st Ihr spiel-t
Er/sie/es spiel-t sie spiel-en


Some regular verbs add e to certain endings. This happens with verbs whose stem ends in d or t.
Well illustrate with arbeiten, to work. (Note, the forms where the e is added are marked with an
asterisk (*)).

Stem: arbeit-

Ich arbeit-e wir arbeit-en Sie arbeit-en
Du arbeit-est * Ihr arbeit-et*
Er/sie/es arbeit-et* sie arbeit-en