German tense

Rule #1

The translation “Mein Hund ist spielt” is incorrect because in German, the verb “spielt” (plays) does not require the auxiliary verb “ist” (is). In English, you often use the auxiliary verb “is” to form continuous tenses, like “is playing.” However, German doesn’t have a direct equivalent to the English continuous tense. Instead, the present tense in German (like “spielt”) is used to indicate both simple present and continuous actions, depending on the context.

Therefore, “Mein Hund spielt” means both “My dog plays” and “My dog is playing,” and adding “ist” would result in a grammatically incorrect sentence.