“heißen” and Verb Conjugation explained

When we address someone in German, there are two forms of “you”:

1. The informal “du” and 2. The formal “Sie”
When you ask someone for their name, the verb “heißen” looks a bit different in either case:
1. Wie heißt du? (with the informal “du”) 2. Wie heißen Sie? (with the formal “Sie”)
You may have also noticed that the same verb looks yet again different when you talk about yourself with “ich” („I“):
3. Ich heiße …

This is called verb conjugation or “to conjugate a verb” and you do the same in English, although less pronounced. It means that the base form of a verb is
changed to communicate who is acting in any given sentence. The base form is called the infinitive and is the form that a dictionary would give us of a verb.
For example: to cook, to go, to try

When you use these verbs in a sentence, the “to” of the verb’s infinitive form is dropped, the stem (cook, go, try) remains, and, depending on who is acting in
the sentence (the subject), the ending of the verb may be changed. Sometimes, even the stem changes when the verb is conjugated.
For example: I cook => He cooks
“I” is the subject (acting element) and “cook” is the verb “he” is the subject, and in English, he/she/it usually adds an “s”

stem. In English, there is no ending added to the stem with “I added to the verb stem
You go => She goes
“you” is the subject and “go” is the verb stem. “she” is the subject, and “go” is slightly irregular, adding an “es” rather
There is no ending added to the verb stem with “you” than just an “s”-ending to the stem “go”
We try => It tries
“we” is the subject and “try” is the verb stem. “it” is the subject, and “try” demands a stem-change from “y” to “ie”,
There is no ending added to the verb stem with “we” before adding an “s”-ending to the altered stem “trie”
“heißen”
Verb conjugation happens in German and many other languages as well. The infinitive in German ADDS an -en to the end of the stem rather than using an
equivalent of “to”. When conjugating, the -en is dropped and different endings, depending on the subject (acting sentence element), are added. Thus:
“heißen” (infinitive form with stem “heiß” and infinitive -en) turns into: Ich heiße (heiß+e) du heißt (heiß+t) Sie heißen (heiß+en)