zahlst

zahlst is the second-person singular present tense form of the German verb zahlen, meaning you pay or you are paying. It is used with the informal pronoun du. In formal contexts, you would use Sie zahlen. As a verb form, zahlst appears in statements about who pays and in questions about payment.

Conjugation and usage: The present tense of zahlen is ich zahle, du zahlst, er zahlt, wir zahlen, ihr zahlt, sie zahlen. The imperative form for the informal singular is zahl, not zahlst, so you would say "Zahl die Rechnung!" meaning "Pay the bill!" The form zahlst, by contrast, functions only as part of the indicative mood for du.

Etymology and related forms: Zahlen originally meant “to count.” The sense “to pay” developed from the idea of counting out money to settle a debt. The noun Zahl means “number,” and Zahlung means “payment.” These related forms share the same root and illustrate how counting and settlement became linked in the language.

Usage notes: zahlst appears in everyday contexts when stating or querying who pays. It can be used in questions such as "Zahlst du bar oder mit Karte?" or in statements like "Du zahlst die Rechnung." It is common in both personal and commercial conversations and can appear in various tenses when the subject changes.

Examples:

- Du zahlst heute die Rechnung.

- Zahlst du bar oder mit Karte?

- Wir müssen zahlen, bevor wir gehen.