#1 Ultimate Guide To German Verbs

Are you ready for a grammar session? To learn German verbs properly, it’s important that you understand German verb conjugation.

Like English and mainly Dutch, the German language conjugates its verbs. Also, similar to the French, Germans also have formal and informal designations for ‘you.’

In this article, you’ll learn about German conjugation, regular and irregular verbs using the most commonly used verbs.

You’ll also learn how to conjugate present, past simple, and future tense verbs. In addition, We’ll include a German verbs list throughout the article.

The conjugation rules aren’t that difficult; all it takes is dedication and memorization to learn. Let’s go!

 

Why Is It Important To Learn German Verb Conjugation?

Verbs are used in every sentence whether you have a conversation, writing, or reading, so you really must know how to conjugate verbs and recognize them.

 

Subjects And Pronouns In German

In German sentence structure, pronouns are used to replace nouns in a sentence. Pronouns will affect how a verb is conjugated in German.

There are formal and informal ways to address someone by the pronoun, ‘you,’ which is also often used in conjunction with ‘they.’

English	German	Singular or Plural
I	ich	singular
you	du	singular informal
you	Sie	singular formal
he	er	singular
she	sie	singular
it	es	singular
you	ihr	plural informal
you	Sie	plural formal
we	wir	plural
they	sie	plural

 

German Verb Tenses

In total, German has six verb tenses, and they are:

• Simple present
• Perfect
• Simple past
• Past perfect
• Future 1
• Future 2

Interestingly, there are no “continuous” or “progressive” tenses. This means that none of the German action verbs end with -ing.

 

German Verbs

In addition to six verb tenses, there are also three different classes of verbs. The three types of German verbs are:

• Weak verbs (Regular verbs)
• Strong verbs (irregular verbs)
• Mixed verbs

Within these classes, however, are regular and irregular verbs. This means that regular verbs all follow the same conjugation patterns, while irregular verbs have unique patterns.

German Weak Verbs (Regular Verbs) Simple Present Tense

To use a weak verb (regular verb) requires you to learn a simple trick! The first thing you must do is reduce the verb to its ‘stem.’

When looking at a list of verbs in German, you’ll notice that the verbs in the infinitive verb form all end with -en. Let’s take a look:

German	English
bleiben	to stay/remain
finden	to find
gehen	to go
haben	to have
heißen	to be called
lassen	to let/allow/have done
liegen	to lie/be lying
sehen	to see
sein	to be
sollen	should/ought to
stehen	to stand
vergleichen	to compare
wissen	to know
wollen	to want

You need to remove the -en to return the word to its stem form. Therefore you would get:

finden = find, sehen = seh, wissen = wiss

Once you have reduced the verb to its stem form, all you have to do is follow this pattern of verb conjugation:

Verb To Let (lassen, verb stem lass)

English	German	Rule
I let	ich lasse	(add e)
you let	du lassst (informal singular)	(add st)
you let	sie lassen (formal singular)	(add en)
he lets	er lasst	(add t)
she lets	sie lasst	(add t)
it lets	es lasst	(add t)
you let	ihr lasst (plural informal)	(add t)
you let	sie lassen (plural formal)	(add en)
we let	wir lassen	(add en)
they let	sie lassen	(add en)

Verb To Lie ( liegen, verb stem lieg)

English	German	Rule
I let	ich liege	(add e)
you let	du liegst (informal singular)	(add st)
you let	sie liegen (formal singular)	(add en)
he lets	er liegt	(add t)
she lets	sie liegt	(add t)
it lets	es liegt	(add t)
you let	ihr liegt (plural informal)	(add t)
you let	sie liegen (plural formal)	(add en)
we let	wir liegen	(add en)
they let	sie liegen	(add en)

German Weak Verbs (Regular Verbs) Simple Past Tense

The rules of regular German simple past verbs are precisely the same as the simple present regular verb rules.

Here are what simple past regular verb conjugation looks like in German:

Verb To Know (kennen, verb stem kenn)

English	German	Rule
I let	ich kennte	(add te)
you let	du kenntest (informal singular)	(add test)
you let	sie kennten (formal singular)	(add ten)
he lets	er kennte	(add te)
she lets	sie kennte	(add te)
it lets	es kennte	(add te)
you let	ihr kenntet (plural informal)	(add tet)
you let	sie kennten (plural formal)	(add ten)
we let	wir kennten	(add ten)
they let	sie kennten	(add ten)

Verb to stop (halten, stem halt)

English	German	Rule
I let	ich haltte	(add te)
you let	du halttest (informal singular)	(add test)
you let	sie haltten (formal singular)	(add ten)
he lets	er haltte	(add te)
she lets	sie haltte	(add te)
it lets	es haltte	(add te)
you let	ihr halttet (plural informal)	(add tet)
you let	sie haltten (plural formal)	(add ten)
we let	wir haltten	(add ten)
they let	sie haltten (plural formal)	(add ten)

Strong Verbs (Irregular Verbs)

About 90% of the verbs in German are regular. However, more than 200 verbs are irregular. Learning the difference will take lots of time and practice, and we suggest that Ling App help you continuously study these verb conjugations, so you don’t forget all these rules!

 German auxiliary and modal verbs are mostly irregular so let’s take a look at those.

Common Auxiliary Verbs In German – Present Tense

Verb To Have (haben)

English	German
I have	ich habe
You have	du hast
You have	sie haben
He has	er hat
She has	sie hat
It has	es hat
You have	wir haben
We have	ihr habt
They have	sie haben

Verb To Be (sien)

English	German
I am	ich bin
You are	du bist
You are	sie haben
He is	er ist
She is	sie ist
It is	es ist
You are	wir sind
We are	ihr seid
They are	sie sind

Verb To Can/Be Able To (önnen)

English	German
I can	ich kann
You can	du kannst
You can	sie können
He can	er kann
She can	sie kann
It can	es kann
We can	wir können
You can	ihr könnt
They can	sie können

Verb To Want (wollen)

English	German
I will	ich will
You will	du willst
You will	sie wollen
He will	er will
She will	sie will
It will	es will
We will	wir wollen
You will	ihr wollt
They will	sie wollen

Verb To Know (wissen)

English	German
I know	ich weiß
You know	du weißt
You know	sie wissen
He knows	er weiß
She knows	sie weiß
It knows	es weiß
We know	wir wissen
You know	ihr wisst
They know	sie wissen

Irregular Verbs In German – Past Tense

Thankfully there is a much clearer and easier to memorize pattern with German past tense auxiliary verbs.

There are easier rules to follow, and the spelling of the stem word doesn’t change, except for the verb to be.

Verb To Have (haben)

• ich hatte (I had)
• du hattest (You had)
• er hatte (He had)
• sie hatte (She had)
• es hatte (It had)
• wir hatten (We had)
• ihr hattet You had)
• sie hatten (They had)

Verb To Be (sien)

• ich war (I was)
• du warst (You were)
• er war (He was)
• sie war (She was)
• es war (It was)
• wir waren (We were)
• ihr waret (You were)
• sie swaren (They were)

Verb To Can/Be Able To (önnen)

• ich könnte (I could)
• du könntest (You could)
• er könnte (He could)
• sie könnte (She could)
• es könnte (It could)
• wir könnten (We could)
• ihr könntet (You could)
• sie könnten (They could)

Verb To Want (wollen)

• ich wollte (I wanted)
• du wolltest (You wanted)
• er wollte (He wanted)
• sie wollte (She wanted)
• es wollte (It wanted)
• wir wollten (We wanted)
• ihr wolltet (You wanted)
• sie wollten (They wanted)

Verb To Know (wissen)

• ich wusste (I knew)
• du wusstest (You knew)
• er wusste (He knew)
• sie wusste (She knew)
• es wusste (It knew)
• wir wussten (We knew)
• ihr wusstet (You knew)
• sie wussten (They knew)

Future Tense 1 In German

To talk about something in the future, just like in English, Germans use the verb ‘will.’ The sentence structure for future1 tense in German is:

Subject + verb to will + infinitive verb

The verb to will (werden, stem verb werd)

English	German
I will	Ich werde
You will	du wirst (informal)
You will	sie zult (formal)
He will	er wird
She will	sie wird
It will	es wird
We will	wir werden
You will	ihr werdet (plural)
They will	sie werden

These are two examples:

• wir werden sehen (We will watch)
• Ich werde schreiben (I will write)

Future Tense 2 In German

This is essentially future perfect when an event is expected to have been completed by the time it happens in the future.

The sentence structure looks like this:

verb to will + past tense verb + unconjugated verb to have or verb to be

Here are some examples:

• In zwei Wochen werden wir die Prüfungen geschrieben haben (In two weeks we will have written the tests)
• Heute in einem Jahr werden wir schon unseren Urlaub in Australien verbracht haben. (A year from today we will already have had our vacation in Australia)

 

Here’s A List Of Some Other Most Common German Verbs

German	English
arbeiten	to work
beginnen	to begin
bekommen	to get/receive
bestehen	to exist
brauchen	to need
entsprechen	to correspond
erklären	to explain
erzählen	to narrate/tell
fallen	to fall
folgen	to follow
gehören	to belong
laufen	to run
lernen	to learn
müssen	must/to have to
sagen	to say
scheinen	to shine
schreiben	to write
setzen	to set/put/place
sitzen	to sit
verstehen	to understand
versuchen	to try/attempt
ziehen	to pull/move

 

You Made It To The End!

This article certainly had a lot to learn about important German and common German verbs and all their different verb tenses.

The German language is incredibly similar to Dutch, and actually, it’s not very different from English due to the grammar rules.

Still, we know this was a lot to take in, and learning a new language is better done in pieces with dedicated practice.

That’s why we recommend Ling App to help you become a master of German verbs! Our mascot Ling will be with you daily to remind you to practice your German and encourage you along the way.

Ling is free to try and offers over 60 other languages to learn right at your fingertips if you find that German just isn’t the right fit for you. 

Go ahead! Try it now.

Download Ling today and start speaking confidently in German!