Look up an ending on a doing word

Open this when an ending on a doing word will not resolve. It holds the full set of present endings, the five helpers, the two verbs that refuse the pattern, and more past forms.

≈ 5 min of reading · Practise at your own pace

What’s in this chapter

Open this when an ending on a doing word blocks you; neither reading needs it.
The full set of present endings is six shapes, and two of them are identical.
The five helpers across ich, du, erich, doo, air, and the two verbs that refuse the pattern.
The two-word PerfektPAIR-fekt is the past Germans speak; it is not what gets printed, and it is named here once.

You do not need this section to finish the lesson. Both readings use only ichich, dudoo and erair, which the main path already gave you. Open this when an ending on a doing word will not resolve, and then go back to reading.

The full present endings, on one ordinary verb

One ordinary doing word with every present ending on it. Find the ending that stopped you and read who it belongs to.

With	sagenZAH-gen“to say”	Ending
ichich“I”	sageZAH-guh“I say”	-e
dudoo“you”	sagstzahkst“you say”	-st
er, sie, esair, zee, ess“he, she, it”	sagtzahkt“he says”	-t
wirveer“we”	sagenZAH-gen“we say”	-en
ihreer“you all”	sagtzahkt“you all say”	-t, the same as he
sie, Siezee, zee“they, you — polite”	sagenZAH-gen“they say”	-en, the same as we

Six rows, four distinct endings. A reader has only to recognise them.

The five helpers in full

A helper is a doing word that sets up a second one. These five are the helpers you meet most.

English	ichich	dudoo	erair
have	habeHAH-buh	hasthast	hathat
want	willvil	willstvilst	willvil
can	kannkan	kannstkanst	kannkan
must	mussmooss	musstmoost	mussmooss
like	magmahk	magstmahkst	magmahk

A helper builds a sentence around a second doing word, which goes to the end and waits: Ich will den Hund sehen.ich vil dayn hoont ZAY-en“I want to see the dog.” Four of the five look identical with ichich and erair; “have” keeps its -t. And willvil means “want”, never the English “will”.

The two verbs that refuse the pattern

“To be” and “to have” refuse the endings in the table before this one. Learn these two by sight.

With	To be	To have
ichich	binbin“I am”	habeHAH-buh“I have”
dudoo	bistbist“you are”	hasthast“you have”
erair	istist“he is”	hathat“he has”
wir, sieveer, zee	sindzint“we are”	habenHAH-ben“we have”
ihreer	seidzite“you all are”	habthapt“you all have”

I saw the fox.

Ich habe den Fuchs gesehen.

ich HAH-buh dayn fooks guh-ZAY-en

This is the PerfektPAIR-fekt, two words long, and it is the past Germans speak. It means the same as Ich sah den Fuchs.ich zah dayn fooks It is simply not what gets printed in the books you are about to open, which is why the main path teaches the one-word past. The second word carries the meaning.

More past forms, for looking up

Past forms the main path left out. Find the German word in front of you and take the English beside it.

English	German
flew	flogflohk“flew”
gave	gabgahp“gave”
found	fandfant“found”
slept	schliefshleef“slept”
ate	aßahss“ate”
drank	tranktrank“drank”
knew	wussteVOOS-tuh“knew”
was called	hießheess“was called”
were	warenVAH-ren“were” — warvar with more than one doer

Split a long word at its seam: the last piece is the real thing

German writes a compound as one long word. Find the seam, and the last piece tells you what the thing really is.

WaldwegVALT-vayk“forest path”

Waldvalt“forest” + Wegvayk“path”

A path, of the forest kind.

HaustürHOWSS-tewr“front door”

Haushowss“house” + Türtewr“door”

A door, of the house kind. English does this too, it just leaves a space.

Come back to these chapters whenever you need them.All German chapters ↗