Understanding Subject Pronouns and Present Tense in German

What Are Subject Pronouns?

Subject pronouns replace the name of a person or thing in a sentence and are used to indicate who is performing the action. In English, these include I, you, he, she, it, we, and they.

Subject Pronouns in German

The Importance of Capitalization

Introduction to the German Present Tense

The present tense, or Präsens, is widely used in German, not just for actions happening now but also for future actions and general truths.

Conjugating Regular Verbs

To conjugate regular verbs in the present tense, you typically remove the infinitive ending -en (e.g., machen becomes mach-) and add the appropriate endings for each pronoun.

• ich mache
• du machst
• er/sie/es macht
• wir machen
• ihr macht
• sie/Sie machen

Variation with Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs, such as sein (to be) and haben (to have), often have unique conjugation patterns. It's essential to memorize these as they do not follow standard rules.

Using Subject Pronouns with Present Tense

In sentences, subject pronouns and verbs must agree in number and person. For instance, Ich spiele Fußball (I play soccer) and Sie gehen ins Kino (They go to the cinema), ensure that the correct verb form matches the subject pronoun.