German verbs

Linguata

Verbs

Every sentence has a subject and a predicate. The predicate is the part of the sentence that tells you about the subject. The verb is the main part of the predicate: ‘I am learning German’ has ‘I’ as subject, ‘am learning German’ as predicate, and ‘am learning’ is the verb.

As in English, German verbs have strong and weak, and regular and irregular forms.

Weak Verbs

The Principle Parts of the numerous weak regular verbs are straightforward. They are the Infinitive, Imperfect and Past Participle e.g. lernen (to learn), lernte (was learning) and gelernt (learned). With these you can easily work out the two simple tenses, Present and Imperfect and the compound tenses, such as the Future and Past tenses, which are made up of auxiliary verbs such as sein (to be), haben (to have) and werden (to become) in combination with the infinitive or past participle. The addition of –te to form the German Imperfect corresponds to the past tense –ed ending of regular English weak verbs e.g. walk/walked, help/helped etc.

The following tables illustrate common tense formation in a Regular Weak Verb, using sagen, to say:

 

Present

 

Imperfect

 

Ich

sage

I say

sagte

I said, etc.

Du

sagest

You say (informal)

sagtest

 

Er/sie/es

sagt

He/she/it says

sagte

 

Wir

sagen

We say

sagten

 

Sie

sagen

You say (plural/formal)

sagten

 

Sie

sagen

They say

sagten

 

 

Perfect

 

Pluperfect

 

Ich

habe* gesagt

I have said, etc.

hatte gesagt

I had said, etc.

         
 

Future

 

Conditional

 

Ich

werde* sagen

I will say, etc.

würde sagen

I should say

*See Auxiliary Verbs below.

 

Strong Verbs

As in English, strong verbs modify their stem vowel to indicate a past tense: give/gave, gebe/gab; begin/began, beginne/began; fall/fell, falle/fiel. Some strong verbs also modify their stem vowel in the Present Tense for the second and third person, so it is a good idea to add the third person singular present to the list of Principle Parts e.g. laufen ‘to run’ – läuft ‘runs’ – lief ‘ran’ – gelaufen ‘(has) run’.

 

Present

 

Imperfect

 

Ich

falle

I fall

fiel

I fell, etc.

Du

fällst

You fall (informal)

fielst

 

Er/sie/es

fällt

He/she/it falls

fiel

 

Wir

fallen

We fall

fielen

 

Sie

fallen

You fall (plural/formal)

fielen

 

Sie

fallen

They fall

sagten

 

You will notice that most of the examples in Linguata German use the present tense and in practice this will meet many of your needs. However you will add enormously to your range if you learn to use some of the auxiliary verbs. Haben (to have) and sein (to be) are used to form the Perfect, as in ‘Ich habe gesagt’ (I said/have said). Sein is used with intransitive (i.e. without an object) verbs implying movement or a change of state: ich bin gegangen (I went), ich bin geworden (I have become). Compare ich habe gut geschlafen (I slept well) with ich bin eingeschlafen (I fell asleep).

The following table gives the present tense for haben and sein:

 

Haben

 

Sein

 

Ich

habe

I have

bin

I am

Du

hast

You have (informal)

bist

You are

Er/sie/es

hat

He/she/it has

ist

He/she/it is

Wir

haben

We have

sind

We are

Sie

haben

You have (plural/formal)

sind

You are

Sie

haben

They have

sind

They are


The next table illustrates the formation of the future and conditional using the present and imperfect subjunctive of werden respectively:

 

Future

 

Conditional

 

Ich

werde gehen

I will go

würde gehen

I should go, etc

Du

wirst gehen

You will go (informal)

würdest gehen

You should go

Er/sie/es

wird gehen

He/she/it will go

würde gehen

He/she/it should go

Wir

werden gehen

We will go

würden gehen

We should go

Sie

werden gehen

You will go (plural/formal)

würden gehen

You should go

Sie

werden gehen

They will go

würden gehen

They should go

   


The following table lists the present tenses of the six modal auxiliaries of mood :

 

Dürfen

Können

Mögen

Müssen

Sollen

Wollen

Ich

Darf I may

Kann I can

Mag I like

Muss I must

Soll I ought

Will I will

Du

darfst

kannst

magst

musst

sollst

willst

Er/sie/es

darf

kann

mag

muss

soll

will

Wir

dürfen

können

mögen

müssen

sollen

wollen

Sie

dürfen

können

mögen

müssen

sollen

wollen

Sie

dürfen

können

mögen

müssen

sollen

wollen


These important verbs can be used on their own or with other verbs. In Linguata German you will see several typical examples of their use e.g. :

Können Sie bitte langsamer sprechen?

Could you speak more slowly?

Kann man hier essen?

The menu, please

Können wir bitte die Karte sehen?

The menu, please

Muss man Mitgleid sein?

Do you have to be a member?

Ich möchte .... kaufen

I'd like to buy ....

Ich möchte zur Stadtmitte kommen

I want to go to the centre

Möchte (I would like) is from the Imperfect Conditional of mögen and provides a useful way of expressing a preference.

Recommended Reading

A Skeleton German Grammar (Blackie and Sons, London, 1902) by Prof. H.G.Atkins (hard to come by but well worth looking for).

Hammer’s German Grammar and Usage, 4th Edition (London:Arnold, 2002). A comprehensive resource for the advanced student.