The document summarizes how to conjugate verbs in the present tense in German. It explains that verbs are conjugated by removing the infinitive ending, keeping the stem, and adding an ending that corresponds to the subject ("ich", "du", etc.). It provides the pronoun subjects and their corresponding verb endings, noting that together these make up the "SNAP" pair concept for conjugating present tense verbs in German. The document solves the "mystery of the present tense in German" through these explanations of stems, endings, and subject-verb pairs.

1. Another case for Agent 8

2. • To investigate mystery of the present tense in German
• To present findings and evidence
• To share solution to mystery
CASE OPENED

3. A verb is a word representing an action.
Ich schwimme.
Ich faulenze.
Ich tanze.
so, what is a verb?

4. The ‘tense’ of a sentence tells you if the sentence refers to
the past, the present or the future.
and what is
‘tense’?
In German as in English, verbs usually change their spelling
to reflect different tenses.
Present = I play or I am playing
Past = I played or I have played
Future = I will play

5. e.g. Ich lese jeden Tag (I read every day)
e.g. Ruhe! Ich lese! (Quiet! I’m reading!)
let’s take a
closer look.
The present tense is used to describe what happens
regularly and what is happening.
Test if a sentence is in the present tense by inserting
‘now’ or ‘every day’ and seeing if it makes sense.

6. We need to know 3 key words to be able to
investigate and write German verbs properly :
INFINITIVESTEMENDING

7. This is how the verb is listed in the dictionary because
there are too many spellings to list individually
The infinitive always ends in –n or -en
The infinitive is translated into English as ‘ to . . .’

8. The STEM is simply the infinitive form
minus the –en at the end
spielen= STEM
This part is called the stem because its
runs through all parts of the verb

9. Different endings are added to the stem of the verb
The same set of endings is used for all present tense
verbs
The ending you add depends on the person or thing
doing the action of the verb

10. ich
ihr
er/es/sie
wir
du
Sie
sie
I
you (friend)
he/it/she
we
you (friends)
you (formal, sing./pl)
they
All people or things doing the action of the verb
could be replaced by the following pronouns:
This part is one half of the SNAP pair in German.

11. The other half of the SNAP pair is the SNAP ending
you add to the stem of the verb
ich stem +e
du stem +st
er/es/sie stem +t
wir stem +en
ihr stem +t
Sie/sie stem +en
It’s called SNAP after the card game
because you have to find a matching pair!

12. so, there’s no
mystery about it!
• Choose a verb
• Decide who or what is doing the action
• Add a matching ending to the stem of the verb
CASE dismissed