Irregular present tense verbs in German

HOW NOT TO CRASH AND BURN!

VERBS ARE

STEM

CHANGE

VERBS !They are NOT

ENDING

CHANGE

VERBS

You still add the regular snap endings to the stem!

ich

stem+e

du

stem+st

er/es/sie stem

+t

wir stem

+enihr ste

m+t

Sie/sie stem

+en

but(Yes, I think you’ve guessed it!)

sometimes

the stem

changes

You should be asking yourself 3 questions now!

1. When does the stem change?

2. What does the stem change to?

3. Which verbs are affected?

But hopefully you don’t look like this!

Only when you use:

•The ‘du’ form

•The ‘er/es/sie’ form

Think! Think!

There are three possible stem changes:

a ä

e i

e ie

tragen (to wear)

ich trage

du trägst

er/es/sie trägt

wir tragen

ihr tragt

Sie/sie tragen

a ä

helfen (to help)

ich helfe

du hilfst

er/es/sie hilft

wir helfen

ihr helft

Sie/sie helfen

e i

sehen (to see)

ich sehe

du siehst

er/es/sie sieht

wir sehen

ihr seht

Sie/sie sehen

e ie

Thankfully there are more regular verbs than irregular

Irregular verbs are listed at the back of any dictionary

You should learn every irregular verb as you meet it

Here are some common irregular verbs:

fahren (to go/travel)

laufen (to run)

schlafen (to sleep)

waschen (to wash)

halten (to hold)

essen (to eat)

geben (to give)

sprechen (to speak)

sterben (to die)

treffen (to meet)

werfen [to throw)

lesen (to read)

sehen (to see)

Again?