I befor E when Spelling

Can someone tell me what is the rule when the letter "I" come before the letter "E" when spelling German words.

Hi Tommy, Have a look here: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/34356/why-is-it-true-that-i-before-e-except-after-c [..."in German, the rule (when explained to native English speakers) is that when I meets E, the second vowel is the sound of the pair, and is sounded long. So, EI is sounded like "aye", and IE is "ee"...] To your question about spelling, just reverse the rule as explained here http://german.about.com/library/anfang/blanfang_abc2.htm [German is a much more phonetically consistent language than English. This means that German words almost always sound the way they are spelled—with consistent sounds for any given spelling. (e.g., the German ei - as in nein - spelling is always sounded EYE, whereas German ie - as in Sie - always has the EEE sound.) ] Try this google search I created if you want to verify other sources: http://goo.gl/nZYvcp -Jason

Hi Jason and Tommy,

Tommy may have been asking a different question.  Many German verbs are spelled correctly with both 'ei' and 'ie'.  The difference is whether you are writting in the present or past tense.