Ch 1 · Lesson 17German · Chapter 1 · Lesson 17 · Grammar primer
Strong verbs, and sein and haben
Some verbs change their vowel for and er only: , . Four are irregular, and and are the two you need first.
The short version
Stem-changing verbs move their vowel only for
, .
Why?Hide
Verbs like , and change their vowel in two places only: the form and the er form. The form and the whole plural keep the infinitive's vowel. So it is and , but and .
Strong verbs: the same endings plus a vowel change
German verbs come in two families. English has the same split: walk, walked is weak; sing, sang, sung is strong.
| Family | Infinitive | Past | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| weak | | | he said (-te) |
| strong | | | he went (vowel) |
In the present, most strong verbs are perfectly regular: . - He is going home. A subset changes its stem vowel in the and er forms only, with the usual endings:
| Pattern | Infinitive | du | er |
|---|---|---|---|
| e to i | | | |
| e to ie | | | |
| a to ä | | | |
.- He speaks German.?- Can you see the house?.- You are driving home.
- .
- .
- .
- .
Four people busy right now, and plain present tense for all four: German has no -ing form. Lesen and laufen change their vowel for er and sie (liest, läuft); kochen and telefonieren just add -t.
The form and the whole plural keep the infinitive's vowel: . - I speak German. . - We are driving home. The common verbs in each group, and their traps ( , , ), are in German stem-changing verbs.
The four verbs that really are irregular
Apart from the modal verbs, four verbs break the pattern, and they are the four you need most. Learn them as vocabulary.
| Person | sein (be) | haben (have) |
|---|---|---|
| | |
| | |
// | | |
| | |
| | |
/ | | |
.- I am tired..- He has no time.
is irregular top to bottom, and English be (am, are, is) is no better. only loses its b in and .
| Person | werden (become) | wissen (know) |
|---|---|---|
| | |
| | |
// | | |
| | |
| | |
/ | | |
.- It is getting cold..- I don't know that.
is an e to i verb that also bends its ending ( ). has no ending on or er, exactly like the modal verbs: . - He knows everything.
Going further: The whole pattern on one screen and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
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Lesson 17 of 38 in this chapter