{"id":12158,"date":"2020-11-10T23:00:54","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T23:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=12158"},"modified":"2020-11-20T12:30:21","modified_gmt":"2020-11-20T12:30:21","slug":"the-german-verb-sprechen-to-speak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/the-german-verb-sprechen-to-speak\/","title":{"rendered":"The German Verb ‘Sprechen’ (To Speak)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Guten Tag! In this \u2018back to basics\u2019 post, we\u2019re going to look at the conjugation of the German verb sprechen \u2013 to speak.<\/strong> A very appropriate verb for your language learning! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Sprechen<\/strong> is an irregular German verb, meaning that both its endings and its stem will sometimes change. Here are a few conjugations of the verb sprechen. There are more, but for the purposes of keeping it simple, we will look at just three that cover the present, past, and future.<\/p>\n

Sprechen \u2013 to speak, talk, say<\/h2>\n
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Photo by Oleg Laptev on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n

Present tense:<\/h3>\n

Ich spreche \u2013 I speak\/am speaking
\nDu sprichst \u2013 You speak\/are speaking (informal)
\nEr\/sie\/es spricht \u2013 He\/she\/it speaks \/ is speaking
\nWir sprechen \u2013 We speak\/are speaking
\nIhr sprecht \u2013 You speak\/are speaking (plural)
\nSie sprechen \u2013 You speak\/are speaking (formal)
\nsie sprechen \u2013 They speak\/are speaking<\/p>\n

*<\/strong> Remember that the difference between the last two, Sie sprechen<\/strong> and sie sprechen<\/strong>, is the capitalisation<\/strong> (or not) of the word sie<\/strong>. However, if \u2018Sie sprechen\u2019 comes at the beginning of a sentence, it may still mean \u2018they<\/em> speak\u2019, as then ‘sie’ is the first word of the sentence and needs to be capitalised! Most times, the context of the sentence will tell you whether it is one person, or a group of people, being spoken about, but sometimes if there is little to no context, it can be ambiguous. See below for an example. *<\/p>\n

Ich spreche Deutsch.
\nI speak German.<\/p>\n

Du sprichst meine Sprache.
\nYou\u2019re speaking my language.<\/p>\n

Wir sprechen nur Englisch.
\nWe only speak English.<\/p>\n

Sie sprechen mit Frau Stiglmeier.
\n< Written down, this could either mean \u2018You are speaking to Frau Stiglmeier\u2019, or \u2018They are speaking to Frau Stiglmeier\u2019 due to the first word needing to be capitalised \u2013 A good example of ambiguity when using Sie\/sie! However, if you were to phone someone and the person on the other end of the phone said, \u2018Guten Tag, Sie sprechen mit Frau Stiglmeier\u2019, you can be sure that this is the formal \u2018you\u2019 (\u2018Sie\u2019) being used! ><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Photo by Wynand van Poortvliet on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n

Compound past tense<\/h3>\n

This tense is used in conjunction with the verb haben-to have.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ich habe gesprochen \u2013 I spoke\/have spoken
\nDu hast gesprochen \u2013 You spoke\/have spoken (informal)
\nEr\/sie\/es hat gesprochen \u2013 He\/she\/it spoke \/ has spoken
\nWir haben gesprochen \u2013 We spoke\/have spoken
\nIhr habt gesprochen \u2013 You spoke\/have spoken (plural)
\nSie haben gesprochen \u2013 You spoke\/have spoken (formal)
\nsie haben gesprochen \u2013 They spoke\/have spoken<\/p>\n

Ich habe genug gesprochen.
\nI have said\/talked enough.<\/p>\n

Habt ihr schon mit Sandra gesprochen?
\nHave you spoken to Sandra yet? (plural \u2013 addressing more than one person)<\/p>\n

Er hat viel dar\u00fcber gesprochen.
\nHe spoke a lot about it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n

Future tense<\/h3>\n

This tense is used in conjunction with the verb werden- to become.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ich werde sprechen \u2013 I will speak
\nDu wirst sprechen \u2013 You will speak (informal)
\nEr\/sie\/es wird sprechen \u2013 He\/she\/it will speak
\nWir werden sprechen \u2013 We will speak
\nIhr werdet sprechen \u2013 You will speak (plural)
\nSie werden sprechen \u2013 You will speak (formal)
\nsie werden sprechen \u2013 They will speak<\/p>\n

Wir werden langsamer sprechen.
\nWe will speak more slowly.<\/p>\n

Ich werde mit ihm sprechen.
\nI will speak to him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I hope this has been useful. What other verbs would you like to recap?<\/p>\n

Bis bald!<\/p>\n

Constanze<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Guten Tag! In this \u2018back to basics\u2019 post, we\u2019re going to look at the conjugation of the German verb sprechen \u2013 to speak. A very appropriate verb for your language learning! \ud83d\ude42 Sprechen is an irregular German verb, meaning that both its endings and its stem will sometimes change. Here are a few conjugations of…<\/p>\n

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