07/03/2022, 11:38 Important German irregular verbs.

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Jun 7, 2021 · 3 min read

Important German irregular verbs.

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There are 3 types of verbs in german language. Weak, mixed and strong verbs. Weak verbs
or regular verbs (regelmäßig verben) are the ones who follow a simple pattern while
conjugating with subject. For e.g

1. arbeiten (to work)

Ich arbeite , wir arbeiten

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du arbeitest , ihr arbeitet

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er/sie/es arbeitet , sie arbeiten

2. wohnen (to live)

ich wohne , wir wohnen

du wohnst , ihr wohnt

er/sie/es wohnt , sie wohnen

Here, we can see that there is nothing significant change in conjugation except only
ending is changed and not the verb stem.

( arbeiten = arbeit + -en) (arbeit = verb stem and -en or others are verb ending)

So, there is nothing much which changes in conjugation of weak or regular verbs.

But this is not the case with strong or irregular verbs(unregelmäßig verben). There are
change in vowels or some extra vowel is added during conjugation. Past participle of these
verbs also changes and is different from common ones but we will be talking about the
verbs which changes its conjugation in present tense only.

In the conjugation of irregular verbs the verb stem also changes with the endings in some
cases.

The change is verb stem means change in vowel of verb stem. So, only vowel in the verb
stem shows change Düring the conjugation of irregular verbs.

One more important thing is that, in most of the cases this change in vowel is occured only with
second and third person singular subject i.e this change in vowel occurs with only with “du“
and “er/sie/es". Although there are also some exceptions in this that sometimes first person
singular “ich" also gets change with these irregular verbs. We will see that further.
Now here is a list irregular verbs that shows change in vowels during conjugation. It is
listed down in different types according to different vowel changes.

P.S : There are more than 200 irregular verbs in

German language but we don’t need to remember all
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of them, but only those which are easyOpen

and used
in app Getin day
started

to day conversation.
1. The three most common irregular verbs are “haben”, “sein” and “werden”. These show a
whole change in conjugation with all the subjects.

2. e→i
(1) sprechen (to speak)

(2) nehmen (to take)

(3) essen (to eat)

(4) geben (to give)

(5) helfen (to help)

3. e → ie
(1) lesen (to read)

(2) sehen (to see)

(3) stehlen (to steal)

4. a → ä
(1) fahren (to drive)

(2) fallen (to fall)

(3) backen (to bake)

(4) blasen (to blow)

(5) fangen/anfangen (to start)

(6) einladen (to invite)

(7) lassen (to let)

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(8) raten (to advise)

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(9) schlafen (to sleep)

(10) tragen (to wear)

(11) waschen (to wash)

5. i → ei
(1) wissen (to know)

6. au → äu
(1) laufen (to walk/to run)

7. ö → a
(1) können (can/to be able to)

(2) mögen (to like)

8. ü → a
(1) dürfen (allowed to)

9. o → i
(1) wollen (to want)

These are some irregular verbs of daily use. There are many more irregular verbs which
shows change while conjugating in past tense. Maybe in some other article 😉.

P.S : There are more irregular verbs in all these

categories, I will add them further as I get them!
In the end there are no specific rules on which verb is irregular and which one is regular,
as one practice more and get along with German language more and more, he/she will be
able to recognise the difference between these verbs.

Have a good day and stay safe!!

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Auf Wiedersehen 👋
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