Verbs are words like lachen meaning to laugh or sein meaning to be, that represent the core of the action or situation being described in a sentence. In German, verbs often change their forms in a process known as conjugation. Mastering verb conjugations is one of the most important parts of learning this language.
To conjugate a German verb, you will generally need to add endings to the verb that depend on the subject of the sentence and the tense. But sometimes you will need to make other changes as well. You may need to add an auxiliary verb or alter the vowel in the base of the verb, and some irregular verbs require more drastic changes.
In this post, we’ll give you a basic introduction to German verb conjugations. We’ll discuss the different forms you might find, how to do subject agreement, and direct you to a bunch more resources that can teach you about individual verb forms. Verbs are the central part of every sentence. Knowing how to use them correctly is the key to mastering any language. With these tips and tricks, you master German verbs in no time!
A short overview of German verbs: strong, weak and mixed verbs
All German verbs can be sorted into three basic categories: strong, weak, and mixed. A verb’s category will tell you a lot about how it is conjugated.
You’ll be able to tell what category a verb belongs to by looking at the three forms of the verb that are listed in a dictionary (also called its principal parts). These three forms are:
infinitive
dictionary form
3rd singular past tense
equivalent of “was”
past participle
equivalent of “been”
When you learn a new German verb, it’s a good idea to learn all three of these forms, as these are usually enough for you to figure out how to conjugate it. The patterns that you see in these three forms will also tell you if the verb is strong, weak, or mixed.
Strong Verbs (Starke Verben):
Strong verbs (sometimes called “irregular verbs”) will have a vowel change. The stem will not be the same in the three principle parts.
gehen, ging, gegangenTranslation: to gosingen, sang, gesungenTranslation: to singtrinken, trank, getrunkenTranslation: to drinktragen, trug, getragenTranslation: to carryWeak Verbs (Schwache Verben):
Weak verbs (sometimes called “regular verbs”) will have the same stem in all three principal parts. Weak verbs form the past tense and past participle by adding a suffix -te or -t to the verb stem. The past participle also has ge- at the beginning.
spielen spielte, gespieltTranslation: to playarbeiten, arbeitete, gearbeitetTranslation: to worklernen, lernte, gelerntTranslation: to learnMixed Verbs (Gemischte Verben):
Mixed verbs (sometimes called “irregular regular verbs”) exhibit characteristics of both strong and weak verbs. While they take the endings expected of weak verbs, they’ll also have vowel changes, like strong verbs.
denken, dachte, gedachtTranslation: to thinkrennen, rannte, geranntTranslation: to runwissen, wusste, gewusstTranslation: to know
Interested in these patterns and how they influence the conjugation of a verb? Check out our comprehensive post on strong, weak, and mixed verbs in German!
What are the main tenses in German?
In German, the main tenses are the present tense, the past tense, and the future tense. Let’s have a high-level look at how to form verbs in each of these tenses, then briefly introduce some other forms that verbs may take.
Present tense
In German, we use the present tense to express that something is happening at the moment of speech, to talk about general facts that are always true, or to talk about planned future events.
To form the present tense of a regular (weak) verb, remove the -en from the infinitive and replace it with one of these: -e, -st, -t, -en (depending on the subject). Let’s look at the weak verb kochen meaning to cook, as an example:
ich koche | I cook |
du kochst | you (sg.) cook |
er/sie/es kocht | he/she/it cooks |
wir kochen | we cook |
ihr kocht | you (pl.) cook |
sie/Sie kochen | they cook, you (fml.) cook |
As expected, there are some exceptions to the basic rule. Some verbs have stem changes in the second and third person singular, e.g. lesen meaning to read → du liest meaning you read, er/sie/es liest meaning he/she/it reads. A few verbs are even more irregular. Check out our post on the German present tense to learn more about how to form and use this tense in German!
Past tense
There are three different past tenses in German: the simple past, the perfect tense, and past perfect. These tenses are all used to talk about events that happened before the moment of speech, but they’re used in slightly different circumstances and have different forms.
Simple past
The German simple past tense is mostly found in literature and any other narrative writing, and is less common in day-to-day German. In this context, it is broadly used to talk about any event that happened in the past.
To form the simple past, you’ll first form a simple past stem, then add an ending that depends on the subject.
To form the past tense stem for a weak verb, just replace the infinitive -en with the past tense marker -te-.
Paul ist stolz, dass er den ersten Platz machte.Translation: Paul is proud that he won the competition.machen meaning to makeThe past tense stem of a strong verb is irregular, but can be found in a dictionary, by looking at the second principal part.
Er kann kaum glauben, dass er mit einer Medaille heim ging.Translation: He can hardly believe that he went home with a medal.gehen meaning to goDer Kletterwettbewerb fand letzte Woche statt.Translation: The climbing competition took place last week.stattfinden meaning to take place
After forming the past stem, you’ll need to add endings that reflect the subject of the sentence. Check out our post on the German simple past to see examples of this, to learn about irregular patterns, and for more examples illustrating when this tense should be used.
Perfect tense
The German perfect tense is the main tense used to discuss past events in everyday German. Though it is parallel in structure to the English present perfect (e.g. “has gone” or “has slept”), in German this tense can be more broadly applied to describe any past event.
To form the German perfect tense, combine the present tense of the auxiliary verbs haben meaning to have or sein meaning to be with the past participle of the main verb (which is the third principal part). The participle does not change form to match the subject.
auxiliary (present)main verb (past participle)Paul hat stolz den ersten Platz gemacht.Translation: Paul won the competition proudly.Er kann kaum glauben, dass er mit einer Medaille heim gegangen ist.Translation: He can hardly believe that he went home with a medal.Der Kletterwettbewerb hat letzte Woche stattgefunden.Translation: The climbing competition took place last week.Wondering how to choose between the two auxiliary verbs haben and sein? It depends on which main verb you’re using. Check out our post on haben vs. sein in German for a full explanation!
Past perfect
The past perfect in German is used much like the English past perfect: to discuss things that “had happened” before some other past moment.
Much like the perfect tense, the past perfect is formed by combining the auxiliary verbs haben meaning to have or sein meaning to be with the past participle, but in this tense you use a past tense auxiliary, rather than a present tense one.
Compare these past perfect examples to the perfect tense sentences above:
auxiliary (past)past participlePaul war stolz, dass er den ersten Platz gemacht hatte.Translation: Paul was proud that he had won the competition.Er konnte kaum glauben, dass er mit einer Medaille heim gegangen war.Translation: He could hardly believe that he had gone home with a medal.Der Kletterwettbewerb hatte letzte Woche vor dem Feiertag stattgefunden.Translation: The climbing competition had taken place last week before the holiday.
Quick summary of the German past tenses
So here’s a quick summary of how to form the German past tenses:
Simple Past
main verb
simple past
Perfect Tense
simple present
main verb
past participle
Past Perfect
simple past
main verb
past participle
Future tense
There are several different ways to discuss future events in German. The most basic form of the future is formed by combining the present tense of the auxiliary verb werden with the infinitive of the main verb.
We can use this basic structure to form some other future tenses, like the future perfect tense, which is used to discuss things that “will have happened” by some future moment. This is formed by combining werden meaning will in the present tense with the infinitive of the auxiliary haben or sein and the past participle of the main verb.
You can read more about the verb werden below!
Other verb forms in German
Besides the basic tenses, there are other ways we can change and manipulate the forms of German verbs. Unlike tenses, these forms aren’t used to express when the action takes place, but add some other flavor to the meaning of a sentence. Here are some of the most common forms. You can read about them in the linked articles!
The subjunctive mood is used to express doubt or uncertainty. You’ll often see this in conditional sentences (e.g. “If I had brought an umbrella, I would not be wet”), in sentences expressing wishes, or in reported speech.
In German the subjunctive comes in two “flavors,” the subjunctive I, which is mostly used in formal writing, and the subjunctive II, which has a broader range of uses.
The imperative mood is used to give commands or orders.
The passive voice is used when the agent (“do-er”) of the action is unimportant or obvious.
The non-finite verb forms, which don’t change to match the subject of the sentence and don’t generally hold up a sentence, unless they work with an auxiliary. These include:
The infinitive (dictionary form), which will usually end in -en, -ern, -eln, or -n.
The past participle, equivalent to the “caught” or “been” form in English, which we saw above.
The present participle, which is the equivalent of the English “-ing” form, but isn’t used in as many situations.
What are the main German auxiliary verbs?
Above, we have seen that there are three main auxiliary verbs in German: sein meaning to be, haben meaning to have and werden meaning will, to become.
These verbs have exceptionally irregular conjugations, which it’s best to just learn by heart. Check out these conjugation charts for haben and sein or this conjugation chart for werden.
Here is a brief summary of the main cases you’ll use each one as an auxiliary:
sein meaning to be
perfect tense (for verbs of movement or state)
past perfect (for verbs of movement or state)
subjunctive I (past)
subjunctive II (past)
haben meaning to have
present perfect
past perfect
subjunctive I (past)
subjunctive II (past)
werden meaning will, to become
future simple
future perfect
subjunctive I (future and future perfect)
passive voice
How do verbs agree with the subject in German?
In German, a verb agrees with its subject by taking certain endings that reflect grammatical features of that subject — usually its person, number, and gender.
It’s a lot like how, in English, you would say “I make dinner” but “She makes dinner.” Changing the subject changes the ending!
If the verb doesn’t agree with the subject, the sentence will either be ungrammatical or have the wrong meaning, so adding the right agreement ending is essential!
Subject-verb agreement is necessary in every German tense, so learning agreement patterns is essential!
Tips: How to find the subject of a German sentence
One of the hardest parts of learning to make the verb agree with the subject is figuring out which noun in a sentence is the subject. Here are some tips to help you do that:
Look for the verb
In a standard German word order for a main clause, the verb will always be the second “unit” within a clause. Usually, the subject will come directly before it, much like in English.
subjectverbDer Kletterer trainiert jeden Tag für den Wettbewerb.Translation: The climber trains for the competition every day.However, sometimes things move around! In some cases the subject can also come immediately after the verb, and in subordinate clauses, the verb gets kicked to the end of a sentence, so the rule above will only help in the simplest cases! Check out our introduction to German word order for more complete word order rules.
Ask the right questions
Ask the question Wer? meaning Who? to identify who or what is performing the action in a sentence — that will be the subject.
This will also be the element of the sentence that is in the nominative case, so another way to look for the subject is to find the nominative article or pronoun that is in the nominative case.
subject (nominative)Maja geht samstags klettern. → Wer geht samstags klettern? → Maja!Translation: Maja goes climbing on Saturdays. → Who goes climbing on Saturdays? → Maja!Die Kletterlehrerin ist neu. → Wer ist neu? → Die Kletterlehrerin!Translation: The climbing teacher is new. → Who is new? → The climbing teacher!Er macht Fortschritte. → Wer macht Fortschritte? → Er!Translation: He is making progress. → Who is making progress? → He (is)!Don’t fret if the subject is not clear!
The subject of a German sentence isn’t always crystal clear and it’s not always a noun! It can also be an infinitive clause or a subordinate clause (aka Subjektsatz). Some examples for those are:
subjectWer nicht hören will, muss fühlen.Translation: If you don't want to listen, find out the hard way.Literally: Who(ever) will not hear must feel.Dass du neue Freunde gefunden hast, freut uns sehr.Translation: That you found new friends is making us very happy.
Summary
Here are the most important things to remember about conjugating verbs in German:
German verbs follow three main patterns: strong, weak, and mixed. Weak verbs are “regular,” while strong verbs are “irregular.” Mixed verbs take regular endings, but still have some irregularities in them.
German verbs agree with the subject of the sentence.
Here are some of the main German tenses, with some examples:
Strong Verb Weak Verb Infinitive singen meaning to singlernen meaning to learnSimple Present er singter lerntSimple Past er sanger lerntePerfect Tense er hat gesungener hat gelerntPast Perfect er hatte gesungener hatte gelerntFuture Tense er wird singener wird lernenFuture Perfect er wird gesungen habener wird gelernt habenGerman verbs may also occur in other forms like the Subjunctive I, Subjunctive II, passive voice, etc.
And now it’s time to practice what you’ve learned. Head over to our activities and test your knowledge on verb conjugations in German!
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