German irregular verbs conjugation

As you might know in the German language like many other languages, there is verb conjugation which is a must to learn. For speaking correctly, you have to learn verb conjugation.

There are regular and irregular verbs in German, and verbs are the most important parts of learning languages.

Generally, verbs mean the activities that we do like: eat, sleep, study, talk, speak, wash …

Generally, each word in language can take one of the following roles in sentences:

Verb, noun, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, …

In this article, we are going to learn, how to conjugate verbs in the German language.

Verb conjugation in German

The words which end to -en and by considering the meaning of the word called “verb”, for instance:

• Heißen (to call, to be called)
• Haben(to have)
• Sagen (to tell)
• Gehen (to go)
• Essen ( to eat)

As you see all the verbs above have -en at the end.

In German languages like many other languages, we need to conjugate the verbs. It means for every pronoun we have a different conjugation of the verbs. For example:

As you see the ending of the Verb for the pronouns “ich “and “du” was different.

We have 2 kinds of verbs in German: regular and irregular verbs.

Almost 95% of the verbs in German are regular verbs and only a few of them are irregular, which they need to be memorized.

For learning verb conjugation first, you should learn the pronouns in German.

For conjugating the verbs first you should have the stem of the Verb, by omitting the -en at the end of the Verbs you have the stem, and then you need to just add the ending of each pronoun. For instance:

• Kommen _komm
• Heidßen-Heiß
• Sagen -sag
• Wohnen -wohn
• Machen -Mach

After having the stem of the verbs, just add the ending .

• Ich …e
• Du …st
• Er …t
• Es …t
• sie …t
• Wir …en
• ihr …t
• sie …en
• Sie …en (formal)

Now we conjugate the Verb.

For instance:

As you see the ending of the Verb in each pronoun changed, and most of the verbs get the same ending which is called regular verbs. See the following examples:

• Spielen (to play)
• Ich spiele
• Du spielst
• Er, es, sie spielt
• Wir spielen
• ihr spielt
• Sie, sie spielen

• Machen (to do)
• Ich Machen
• Du machst
• Er, es, sie macht
• Wir machen
• ihr macht
• Sie, sie machen

As you know verbs in German are divided into two groups:

• Regular verbs
• Irregular verbs

The conjugation of regular verbs is taught above and is so simple, but irregular verbs as you might know, don’t have the same “ending ” as regular verbs, the irregular verbs might be different in “ending “or “vowels” of the verbs, like the Verb “sehen” that in conjugation changes to “siehst” for the second person in singular.  fortunately, there aren’t too many irregular verbs so you can memorize them easily.

Now see the most common irregular verb in German, the Verb “sein” or “to be”

• Ich bin (I am)
• Du bist (you are)
• Er, es, sie  ist (he, she, it is)
• Wir sind (we are)
• Ihr seid (you are)(plural)
• Sie, sie sind (they are, you are (formal))

Now see some examples:

Now see the other common irregular verb “haben” (to have )

• Ich habe (I have )
• Du hast (you have )
• Er, es, sie hat (he, she, it has)
• Wir haben (we have)
• Ihr habt (you have) (plural)
• Sie, sie haben (they have, you have(formal))

Some examples:

Sie hat zwei Brüder.

She has two brothers.

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Some key points

1. If the infinitive of the verb ends to -eln or -ern, by omitting the -n we can have the stem, for instance, “wandern” that the stem of that is “wander” the Verb” handeln” that the stem of that is “handel”.

2. When the stem of the verb ends to “-t ” or “-d” for proun

I hope you enjoyed this article. If you have any questions about it, just leave a comment.

You can also check out the German Grammar page to read other grammatical articles.