German *werden* in the Present Tense

In Brief

The irregular verb werden most often means “to become” or “to get” when it describes a change: Ich werde müde means “I’m getting tired.” Its present-tense forms are werde, wirst, wird, werden, werdet, werden. The same verb later helps form the future and the passive, but its basic A1 meaning is change.

Overview

Werden is one of the most useful German verbs. You use it when a person or thing changes state, role, or identity: the weather gets colder, a child grows older, or someone becomes a doctor. English does not use one single verb in all of these situations; depending on the sentence, werden may correspond to become, get, grow, or turn.

This is an A1 grammar point because the six present-tense forms appear frequently in ordinary conversation. The verb is irregular: it does not keep exactly the same stem in every form, so learning only werden as an infinitive (the dictionary form) is not enough. In particular, du wirst and er/sie/es wird need special attention.

Werden also has two important jobs as an auxiliary verb (a helping verb used to build a larger verb form). It combines with an infinitive for one way of talking about the future, and with a past participle for the passive voice. Those structures belong to later stages of study, but recognizing them will prevent you from trying to translate every wird as “becomes.”

How It Works

Present-tense forms

The subject (the person or thing the sentence is about) determines the form of werden.

Person	German form	Basic English meaning
ich	werde	I become / am getting
du	wirst	you become / are getting (informal singular)
er / sie / es	wird	he / she / it becomes or is getting
wir	werden	we become / are getting
ihr	werdet	you become / are getting (informal plural)
sie / Sie	werden	they become / you become (formal)

The singular forms show the irregularity clearly:

• ich werde keeps the stem werd-.
• du wirst and er/sie/es wird change the stem vowel and lose the e.
• wir werden, sie werden, and formal Sie werden are identical to the infinitive.
• ihr werdet uses the regular-looking ending -et.

The most efficient memory line is: werde – wirst – wird – werden – werdet – werden.

Describing a change

For the core A1 use, the pattern is:

subject + form of werden + new state, quality, or identity

In a simple statement, werden occupies the usual conjugated-verb position: the second grammatical slot. The word describing the result normally comes later.

• Ich werde müde. — I am getting tired.
• Das Wetter wird besser. — The weather is getting better.
• Meine Schwester wird Ärztin. — My sister is becoming a doctor.

Words such as müde and besser are adjectives (words that describe a quality). After werden, an adjective used this way has no adjective ending: say Das Wetter wird kalt, not Das Wetter wird kaltes. The adjective is describing the subject rather than standing directly before a noun.

A noun can name the new role or identity. With professions, nationalities, religions, and similar roles, German commonly uses no article when the statement is neutral:

• Er wird Arzt. — He is becoming a doctor.
• Sie wird Präsidentin. — She is becoming president.

An article is possible when the noun is more specifically described or identified: Er wird ein guter Arzt (“He will become a good doctor”). The noun after werden is in the nominative case (the form normally used for the subject), because it identifies the same person or thing as the subject: Er wird Arzt, not Er wird Arzten.

Statements, questions, and subordinate clauses

German word order changes, but the form of werden does not.

Sentence type	Pattern	Example
Statement	subject/topic + werden + rest	Es wird heute warm.
Yes/no question	werden + subject + rest	Wirst du müde?
Question word	question word + werden + subject + rest	Wann wird es dunkel?
Subordinate clause	conjunction + subject + rest + werden	..., weil es kalt wird.

A subordinate clause is a clause that depends on another part of the sentence, often introduced by words such as weil (“because”) or wenn (“when/if”). Its conjugated verb normally goes to the end. Compare Es wird kalt with Ich gehe hinein, weil es kalt wird.

Negative sentences

Use nicht to negate a change of quality or the verb phrase as a whole:

• Es wird nicht kalt. — It is not getting cold.
• Ich werde heute nicht müde. — I am not getting tired today.

Use kein before a noun that would otherwise have no article or an indefinite article:

• Er wird kein Arzt. — He is not becoming a doctor.

The exact position of nicht varies with what is being denied, but placing it before the final quality in a short sentence is a useful beginner pattern: Das wird nicht einfach (“That is not going to be easy”).

Examples in Context

German	English	Note
Es wird kalt.	It’s getting cold.	A change in weather
Ich werde müde.	I’m getting tired.	First-person singular
Er wird Arzt.	He is becoming a doctor.	Profession without an article
Du wirst immer schneller.	You’re getting faster and faster.	Irregular du form
Meine Tochter wird morgen zehn.	My daughter turns ten tomorrow.	Reaching an age
Die Tage werden länger.	The days are getting longer.	Plural subject
Wir werden langsam nervös.	We’re slowly getting nervous.	Change in emotional state
Werdet ihr auch hungrig?	Are you all getting hungry too?	Informal plural question
Werden Sie bald fertig?	Will you be finished soon?	Formal Sie; an expected change/result
Wann wird es dunkel?	When does it get dark?	Question-word order
Der Kaffee wird nicht kalt.	The coffee isn’t getting cold.	Negation with nicht
Sie wird eine ausgezeichnete Lehrerin.	She will become an excellent teacher.	Article because the role is described
Ich öffne das Fenster, weil es warm wird.	I’m opening the window because it’s getting warm.	wird at the end of a subordinate clause
Keine Sorge, es wird schon besser.	Don’t worry, it will get better.	Common reassurance; schon adds confidence
Nächstes Jahr wird er in Berlin arbeiten.	Next year he will work in Berlin.	Future auxiliary; infinitive at the end

Notice that an idiomatic English translation often uses a continuous form: Es wird kalt is usually “It’s getting cold,” not the unnatural “It becomes cold.” Translation should follow the situation, not replace each German word mechanically.

Common Mistakes

Using regular forms for du and er/sie/es

• Wrong: Du werdest müde. Er werdet nervös.
• Right: Du wirst müde. Er wird nervös.
• Why: The second- and third-person singular forms are irregular. Learn wirst and wird as a pair.

Confusing werden with sein

• Wrong: Ich bin müde when you mean that tiredness is beginning.
• Right: Ich werde müde.
• Why: Ich bin müde describes the current state: “I am tired.” Ich werde müde describes a change: “I am getting tired.” English speakers often need to choose between be and get; German makes that contrast with sein and werden.

Adding an adjective ending

• Wrong: Es wird kaltes.
• Right: Es wird kalt.
• Why: An adjective after werden is not directly modifying a following noun, so it stays in its basic, uninflected form.

Adding an article to every profession

• Wrong: Er wird ein Arzt as a neutral statement of career choice.
• Right: Er wird Arzt.
• Why: German normally omits the article with an unmodified profession or role. Use one when you add a description or identify a particular kind: Er wird ein guter Arzt.

Treating every wird as “becomes”

• Wrong: Translating Das Haus wird gebaut as “The house becomes built.”
• Right: “The house is being built.”
• Why: Werden plus a past participle (here gebaut, “built”) forms the passive. Werden plus an adjective or noun usually expresses change. The words around the verb reveal its job.

Leaving the second verb beside werden

• Wrong: Ich werde gehen morgen.
• Right: Ich werde morgen gehen.
• Why: When werden is an auxiliary, the infinitive normally goes to the end of the main clause.

Usage Notes

English become is often more formal than everyday get, but German werden is completely ordinary in both speech and writing. Natural translations therefore vary: krank werden is “to get sick,” alt werden is “to grow old,” rot werden is “to turn red,” and Lehrer werden is “to become a teacher.” Do not search for a different German verb merely because English changes its wording.

German also uses werden with ages: Sie wird nächste Woche achtzehn means “She turns eighteen next week.” For gradual trends, words such as immer and comparative adjectives are common: Es wird immer schwieriger (“It is getting more and more difficult”).

The formal pronoun Sie always takes werden, while informal singular du takes wirst. Capitalization distinguishes formal Sie (“you”) from sie (“she” or “they”), although the context and verb form help too: sie wird can only mean “she becomes,” while sie werden can mean “they become” or formal “you become.”

For future time, German often prefers the present tense plus a time expression when the meaning is clear: Morgen arbeite ich zu Hause (“I’m working at home tomorrow”). A future form with werden—Morgen werde ich zu Hause arbeiten—is also correct, but may sound more deliberate, predictive, or emphatic depending on context. English speakers should not automatically translate every will with werden.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to produce all of these structures at A1, but you will meet them often. The shape of the rest of the sentence tells you which function werden has.

Structure	Function	Example	Meaning
werden + adjective/noun	change	Er wird ruhig.	He is becoming calm.
werden + infinitive	future or prediction	Er wird später kommen.	He will come later.
werden + past participle	event passive	Die Tür wird geöffnet.	The door is being opened.

In the future construction, conjugated werden remains near the beginning of a main clause and the infinitive goes to the end. Besides future time, this structure can express a present assumption: Er wird jetzt zu Hause sein often means “He is probably at home now.” It is not literally a future event.

In the passive, the past participle (a verb form such as gemacht, “made,” or geöffnet, “opened”) describes the action received by the subject. Compare:

• Die Suppe wird kalt. — The soup is getting cold. (kalt is an adjective.)
• Die Suppe wird gekocht. — The soup is being cooked. (gekocht is a participle.)

The perfect forms differ according to function. Lexical werden meaning “become” uses geworden: Er ist Arzt geworden (“He became a doctor”). The passive normally uses worden: Das Haus ist gebaut worden (“The house was built”). This distinction is a later topic, but it explains why both forms appear.

You will also encounter würde, the subjunctive form used in hypothetical or polite expressions. The subjunctive is a verb form used for possibilities, wishes, or situations presented as unreal: Ich würde gern helfen means “I would like to help.” Although würde is historically related to werden, do not mix it into the present-tense sequence werde, wirst, wird....

Finally, werden has imperative forms for direct instructions or wishes: Werde gesund! (“Get well!”), Werdet nicht ungeduldig! (“Don’t get impatient!”), and formal Werden Sie nicht nervös! (“Don’t get nervous!”). These are less central than ordinary present statements, but they follow the same meaning of entering a new state.

Practice Tips

1. Drill the two problem forms in short contrasts. Say ich werde – du wirst – er wird aloud, then build three-sentence sets such as Ich werde müde. Du wirst müde. Er wird müde. Change the adjective each time.
2. Sort examples by function. When you see wird or werden, look at the final word: an adjective or noun usually signals change, an infinitive signals future/prediction, and a participle often signals passive voice.
3. Describe visible changes. Use everyday pairs such as hell/dunkel, warm/kalt, alt/jung, and ruhig/nervös: Es wird dunkel. Der Kaffee wird kalt. This connects each form to a real situation instead of an isolated conjugation chart.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Subject Pronouns (Nominative) — identify the subject so you can choose werde, wirst, wird, werden, or werdet correctly.