|
When you
look up an English verb in a dictionary to check what its German
equivalent is, you will find the so-called infinitive, i.e. the basic
form of the verb.
Nearly all
German infinitives end in -en, e.g.
to
live -> wohnen
to
drink -> trinken
to
learn -> lernen
to
come -> kommen
to sing -> singen
to work -> arbeiten
Once you
use the verb in a sentence, you have to make sure that the ending of the
verb corresponds to the subject (= who or what is performing the action
expressed by the verb) of the sentence.
In order
to do this, you take the -en off the infinitive and add the ending which
is required in each case, e.g.
wohnen: |
If
the subject is "ich" (= "I"), the ending is -e: ich wohne
If
the subject is "er" (= "he") or "sie" (= "she")
or "es" (= "it"), the ending is
-t: er wohnt, sie wohnt, es
wohnt
If the subject is "du" (=
"you"), the ending is -st: du wohnst
If the subject is "sie" (=
"they"), the ending is -en: sie wohnen
If the subject is "wir" (=
"we"), the ending is -en: wir wohnen
|
|
arbeiten: |
Once you take the -en off "arbeiten", you end up with the stem "arbeit".
That's not a problem if you are going to add an "-e" or an "-en", but
try to add "t" or "st" and you will realize that it is quite difficult
to pronounce the word. Therefore an "e" is inserted before the ending to
facilitate pronunciation:
ich arbeite
(I work. // I am working.)
du arbeitest
(You work. // You are working.)
er/sie/es
arbeitet
(He/she/it works. // He/she/it is working.)
wir arbeiten
(We work. // We are working.)
sie arbeiten
(They work. // They are working.)
|
Note:
Phrases like "mein Freund" (my [male] friend) or a name e.g.
"Patrick" can be replaced by "he", therefore the corresponding verb must
end in -t, e.g.
Mein
Freund wohnt in Berlin.
Patrick trinkt Kaffee.
Phrases like "meine Freundin" (my [female] friend) or a name
e.g. "Patricia" can be replaced by "she", therefore the corresponding
verb must end in -t, e.g.
Meine Freundin wohnt in Berlin.
Patricia trinkt Kaffee.
Phrases like "meine Freunde" (my friends) or names
e.g. "Patricia and Patrick" can be replaced by "they", therefore the corresponding
verb must end in -en, e.g.
Meine Freunde wohnen in Berlin.
Patricia und Patrick trinken Kaffee.
Phrases like "meine Freunde und ich" (my friends and
I) can be replaced by "we", therefore the corresponding
verb must end in -en, e.g.
Meine Freunde und ich wohnen in Berlin.
Meine Freunde und ich trinken Kaffee.
|