Grammar Lessons
Lesson 5 - Irregular Verbs
Unfortunately, not all the German verbs follow the regular pattern shown in the previous lesson; there are some verbs with slight variations in their stem. These verbs are called 'Irregular Verbs'.
1. Stem ending with 'd' or 't':
As it would be difficult to pronounce the 'st' ending for 'du'
and the 't' ending for 'er/sie/es' & 'ihr', an 'e' is placed before
the ending of these verbs.
The extra 'e' is added only to the 'du', 'er/sie/es',
and 'ihr' verb forms, other verb forms aren't affected.
| Stem ending with 'd' or 't' | ||
|---|---|---|
| finden | leiden | |
| du | findest | leidest |
| er/sie/es | findet | leidet |
| ihr | findet | leidet |
2. Stem ending with 's', 'ss', 'ß', 'x', 'z', or 'tz':
If the verb stem ends with any of the following endings, then
the 'du' verb ending becomes a 't' instead of 'st'.
Only the 'du' verb form is affected.
| Stem ending with 's', 'ss', 'ß', 'x', 'z', or 'tz' | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| genesen | küssen | heißen | sitzen | |
| du | genest | küsst | heißt | sitzt |
3. Verbs with a vowel change
Some verbs have the vowel in their stem change with the 'du'
and 'er/sie/es' form of the verb. These verbs are best learnt
by heart.
The three most common vowel change patterns are:
| 'a' to 'ä' | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| backen | fahren | schlafen | waschen | |
| du | bäckst | fährst | schläfst | wäschst |
| er/sie/es | bäckt | fährt | schläft | wäscht |
| 'e' to 'i' | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| essen | geben | sprechen | weben | |
| du | isst | gibst | sprichst | wibst |
| er/sie/es | isst | gibt | spricht | wibt |
| 'e' to 'ie' | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| befehlen | lesen | sehen | stehlen | |
| du | befiehlst | liest | siehst | stielst |
| er/sie/es | befiehlt | liest | sieht | stielt |
This concludes our lesson, quite simple, eh ?
Make sure to check the grammar table associated with this lesson, it contains most of the irregular verbs that appear within the German language.