Infinitiv.
The base form.

Every German verb has an Infinitiv. It is the form you find in a dictionary. It never conjugates, never changes for person or number. And in German sentences, it always goes to the very end.

What the Infinitiv looks like

Almost all German Infinitiv forms end in -en. A small number end in -n. The ending stays the same regardless of subject or tense: that is the whole point of the Infinitiv. It is the unchanged base.

Infinitiv	Meaning	Conjugated (ich, Präsens)
lernen	to learn	ich lerne
kommen	to come	ich komme
sehen	to see	ich sehe
sein	to be	ich bin
haben	to have	ich habe
werden	to become	ich werde

The Infinitiv is what the verb looks like before anything happens to it. Conjugation adds person and tense. The Infinitiv has neither.

The Infinitiv always goes last

Whenever a sentence has two verbs, the conjugated verb takes position two and the Infinitiv moves to the very end. This is one of the most important word-order rules in German. The conjugated verb holds position two. The Infinitiv closes the sentence.

Subject	Pos. 2 (conjugated)	Middle	End (Infinitiv)
Ich	muss	morgen	arbeiten.
Er	will	Deutsch	lernen.
Wir	werden	bald	reisen.
Sie	würde	gern	schlafen.

Three structures that use the bare Infinitiv

The Infinitiv appears bare, without zu, in three major sentence structures. Each one uses the same rule: one conjugated verb in position two, Infinitiv at the end. (A fourth structure, zu + Infinitiv, works differently and is worth knowing about: Ich habe vor, morgen zu kommen. There the zu sits immediately in front of the Infinitiv, and with a separable verb it slides inside the word: anzurufen.)

1. Modal verbs + Infinitiv

Modal verbs express ability, necessity, permission, and desire. They conjugate and take position two. The full verb they modify stays as an Infinitiv at the end.

• Ich kann morgen kommen. (I can come tomorrow.)
• Du musst das lesen. (You have to read that.)
• Er will Arzt werden. (He wants to become a doctor.)

The six modal verbs, their meanings, and all forms: Six verbs. Unlimited sentences.

2. werden + Infinitiv (Futur I)

werden conjugated in position two, Infinitiv at the end: that is Futur I. It expresses future plans, predictions, and present assumptions.

• Ich werde morgen Deutsch lernen. (I will study German tomorrow.)
• Es wird regnen. (It will rain.)
• Sie werden bald ankommen. (They will arrive soon.)

The full structure and all three uses: Futur I. werden + Infinitiv.

3. würden + Infinitiv (Konjunktiv II)

würden shifts the sentence from real to hypothetical. Same structure as Futur I (conjugated form in position two, Infinitiv at the end), but the meaning moves from "will" to "would."

• Ich würde gern reisen. (I would love to travel.)
• Er würde sofort kommen. (He would come immediately.)
• Würden Sie mir helfen? (Would you help me?)

Forms, uses, and when to use direct forms instead: würden. The Konjunktiv II tool.

The same Infinitiv, three different meanings

The same Infinitiv can appear in all three structures. The conjugated verb at position two is the only thing that changes. That one swap changes the meaning completely.

Structure	Example	Meaning
Modal + Infinitiv	Ich kann Deutsch lernen.	I can learn.
werden + Infinitiv	Ich werde Deutsch lernen.	I will learn.
würden + Infinitiv	Ich würde Deutsch lernen.	I would learn.

The Infinitiv itself (lernen) never changes. Only the verb in position two carries the grammatical meaning.