LinguaWhat you can do now
After this unit you can put any regular verb into the present tense, including the special cases du arbeitest and du tanzt, and say what you like doing with gern. You can ask with a question word – wer, was, wo, woher, wohin, wann, wie, warum – and with the verb first, and you can answer ja, nein or doch. All of it rests on one rule of German word order: the verb has a fixed place. The table shows the three sentence types side by side.
| Sentence type | Place of the verb | Example |
|---|---|---|
| statement | second | Wir spielen heute Tennis. |
| statement, time first | second | Heute spielen wir Tennis. |
| W-question | second | Wann spielen wir Tennis? |
| yes–no question | first | Spielen wir heute Tennis? |
Wann kommst du? – Ich komme später.When are you coming? – I’m coming later.
The present-tense endings at a glance
| Pronoun | lernen (to learn) | arbeiten (to work) | reisen (to travel) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ich | lerne | arbeite | reise |
| du | lernst | arbeitest | reist |
| er / sie / es | lernt | arbeitet | reist |
| wir | lernen | arbeiten | reisen |
| ihr | lernt | arbeitet | reist |
| sie / Sie | lernen | arbeiten | reisen |
nicht, nie and doch
nicht goes to the end when it negates the whole sentence (Ich komme heute nicht) and right before the part it negates when only one part is meant (Ich koche nicht gern). nie means “never” and needs no nicht. And when someone asks a question with nicht and your answer is positive, begin with doch: Du tanzt nicht? – Doch, ich tanze gern!
Arbeitest du heute? – Nein, heute arbeite ich nicht.Are you working today? – No, I’m not working today.
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| lernen | to learn, to study | Lernt ihr zusammen? Do you (all) study together? |
| arbeiten | to work | Wo arbeitest du? Where do you work? |
| tanzen | to dance | Heute tanzen wir. Today we are dancing. |
| gern | gladly; (verb + gern) to like doing | Er reist gern. He likes travelling. |
| wer | who | Wer spielt heute? Who is playing today? |
| warum | why | Warum kommst du nicht? Why aren’t you coming? |
| doch | yes (after a negative question) | Du hörst nicht? – Doch, ich höre! You’re not listening? – Yes, I am! |
| gerade | right now, at the moment | Paul schwimmt gerade. Paul is swimming right now. |
| zuerst | first, first of all | Zuerst kochen wir. First we cook. |
| nie | never | Wir reisen nie. We never travel. |
Exercises
This lesson has 11 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 2
- translate the sentence: 2
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Which question asks where Tom is travelling to?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.