German verbs

To read
Liest pronounced “leest” du liest, (er, sie, es) liest
Lese pronounced “lay zuh” Ich lese

All German verbs end in -n or -en and the rules don’t change based on these endings.
Irregularity generally isn’t determined by their endings, though the following
generalizations do apply:
(1) Verbs that end in -ern, -eln, or just -n (without a preceding -e-), drop only the -
n from the stem before adding suffixes of any kind. This includes verbs like wandern,
erinnern, sammeln, entwickeln, tun. Where other verbs add -en in their conjugations,
(1st and 3rd person plural forms: wir sagen, sie sagen), these verbs add only -n (wir
sammeln, sie sammeln).
(2) Verbs that end in -ern or -eln are all weak verbs and follow regular conjugation
patterns in all verb tenses.
(3) Verbs that end in -n without a preceding -e- (and are not -eln or -ern verbs) are few.
Only sein and tun come to mind. Both are strong verbs and have stem changes in their
principal parts, though tun looks regular in the present tense: ich tue, du tust, er/sie/es
tut, wir tun, ihr tut, Sie/sie tun. The verb sein is the most irregular of all verbs in
German and should simply be memorized. Especially its present tense forms are
anomalous (ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist, wir sind, ihr seid, Sie/sie sind).
(4) -ieren verbs of non-Germanic origin are all weak. (This
means verlieren and frieren are exceptions — they are of Germanic origin.) These are
regular except in the perfect tense where they omit the ge- in their past
participle: studieren (perfect tense: hat studiert), telefonieren (hat
telefoniert), passieren (ist passiert).
In sum, the rules of conjugation don’t align with the endings of verb infinitives like in
some other languages. However, this is because in German all verb infinitives actually
have the same ending: -n. German has only one basic pattern of conjugation in the
present tense with a few variations for irregular verbs. It is the principal parts of verbs in
German that show whether a verb is weak or strong and this feature determines its
conjugation in the simple past and perfect tenses.
The German present tense is usually formed by dropping the –en or –n from the
infinitive and adding personal endings (-e, -(e)st, (e)t, –en, -(e)t, –en) to the remaining
infinitive stem. Each of the four examples below represent regular verb conjugation in
the present tense. The present tense forms of gehen are regular.

The variations represented in the chart above:

sitzen: If the infinitive stem ends in –s, –ß, –x, or –z, the s of the du-ending is omitted:
du sitzt
du faxt
du gießt
finden: If the infinitive stem ends in –d or –t, or if it ends in -m or –n preceded by a
consonant other than l or r, to facilitate pronunciation an e is inserted between the
infinitive stem and personal ending in the du, er/sie/es, and ihr forms.
du findest
du arbeitest
du öffnest
er findet
er arbeitet
er öffnet
ihr findet
ihr arbeitet
ihr öffnet
handeln: If the infinitive ends in just –n rather than –en, then the personal ending of
the wir and Sie/sie forms is simply –n. In speech, sometimes the e in the ich-form is
omitted.
wir handeln
wir ändern
Sie handeln
Sie ändern
Ich
ich heiße
my name is

To eat: essen

Ich I esse
Du you isst
Er/sie/es he/she/it isst
Wir we essen
Ihr you all esst
Sie they essen
Sie You all formal essen

To drink trinken
Ich trinke I drink
Du trinkst You (singular) drink
Er/Sie/Es trinkt He/She/It drinks
Wir trinken We drink
Ihr trinkt You (plural) drink
Sie trinken They drink

To read: lesen (layzen)

Ich I lese
Du you liest
Er/sie/es he/she/it liest
Wir we lesen
Ihr you all lest
Sie they lesen

To have: haben

Ich I habe
Du you hast
Er/sie/es he/she/it hat
Wir we haben
Ihr you all habt
Sie they haben

To talk, to speak: sprechen

Ich spreche
Du sprichst
Er/sie/es he/she/it spricht
Wir sprechen

To understand verstehen

Ich verstehe
Du verstehst
Er/Sie/es versteht
Wir verstehen
Sie verstehen

To come from, to get, are from: kommen

Ich komme
Du kommst
Er/sie/es kommt
Wir kommen
Ihr kommt
Sie kommen