Ich esse jetzt Brot.

to eat

Breakdown of Ich esse jetzt Brot.

• das Brot: the bread
• ich: I
• jetzt: now

Questions & Answers about Ich esse jetzt Brot.

Why is "ich" written in lowercase even though it means "I"?

In German, ich (meaning "I") is always written with a lowercase letter unless it appears at the start of a sentence. This differs from English, where the pronoun "I" is capitalized in all positions.

Why is there no article (like "ein" or "das") before "Brot"?

Bread (Brot) is often treated as an uncountable or mass noun in German, and it’s completely normal to omit the article in such cases. You can think of it similarly to how you might say “I’m eating bread” in English without needing to say “I’m eating the bread” or “I’m eating a bread.”

What does "jetzt" add to the sentence?

jetzt means “now” and emphasizes that the action is happening at the present moment. In English, it helps convey the sense of “I am eating bread right now.”

How do you conjugate "essen" in the present tense?

Here’s a quick overview:

• ich esse (I eat / I am eating)
• du isst (you eat / you are eating)
• er/sie/es isst (he/she/it eats / is eating)
• wir essen (we eat / we are eating)
• ihr esst (you all eat / you all are eating)
• sie/Sie essen (they/you [formal] eat / are eating)

Can I put "jetzt" elsewhere in the sentence, like "Ich esse Brot jetzt"?

You can shift jetzt around, but "Ich esse jetzt Brot" is the most natural word order. While "Ich esse Brot jetzt" is understandable, it’s less common and might sound a bit off to a native speaker.

Is it mandatory to include "ich" each time, or can I leave it out like in Spanish?

In German, you generally need to include the subject pronoun. Omitting ich would sound confusing or be considered non-standard. Unlike some other languages, German doesn’t drop the subject pronoun in everyday speech.