Skip to main content
All German study resources

Study Resource: List of common German irregular verbs in the simple past

By: Ulrike Carlson

Common German verbs with irregular simple past forms

InfinitiveSimple Past
backen
Translation: to bake
buk
Translation: baked

(also exists as a regular verb
with simple past form backte)

bitten
Translation: to ask for
bat
Translation: asked for
bleiben
Translation: to stay
blieb
Translation: stayed
empfehlen
Translation: to recommend
empfahl
Translation: recommended
essen
Translation: to eat
aß
Translation: ate
fahren
Translation: to drive
fuhr
Translation: drove
finden
Translation: to find
fand
Translation: found
fliegen
Translation: to give
flog
Translation: flew
geben
Translation: to give
gab
Translation: gave
gehen
Translation: to go
ging
Translation: went
lassen
Translation: to let
ließ
Translation: let
laufen
Translation: to walk
lief
Translation: walked
lesen
Translation: to read
las
Translation: read
kommen
Translation: to come
kam
Translation: came
nehmen
Translation: to take
nahm
Translation: took
reiten
Translation: to ride
ritt
Translation: rode
schlafen
Translation: to sleep
schlief
Translation: slept
schneiden
Translation: to cut
schnitt
Translation: cut
schreiben
Translation: to write
schrieb
Translation: wrote
schwimmen
Translation: to swim
schwamm
Translation: swam
sehen
Translation: to see
sah
Translation: saw
singen
Translation: to sing
sang
Translation: sang
sprechen
Translation: to speak
sprach
Translation: spoke
springen
Translation: to jump
sprang
Translation: jumped
stehen
Translation: to stand
stand
Translation: stood
stehlen
Translation: to steal
stahl
Translation: stole
steigen
Translation: to climb
stieg
Translation: climbed
sterben
Translation: to die
starb
Translation: died
trinken
Translation: trank
trank
Translation: drank
werden
Translation: to become
wurde
Translation: became
ziehen
Translation: to pull
zog
Translation: pulled

The verbs above also form the base of many other verbs. These derived verbs are also irregular in the same way:

  • verstehen
    Translation: to understand
    verstand
    Translation: understood
  • aufstehen
    Translation: to get up
    stand auf
    Translation: got up

Modal verbs in the simple past

InfinitiveSimple Past
dürfen
Translation: may, to be permitted
durfte
Translation: might, was permitted
können
Translation: can, to be able to
konnte
Translation: could, was able to
mögen
Translation: to like
mochte
Translation: liked
müssen
Translation: must, to have to
musste
Translation: had to
wollen
Translation: to want
wollte
Translation: wanted
sollen
Translation: shall, to be supposed to
sollte
Translation: should, was supposed to

Common mixed-class verbs in the simple past

InfinitiveSimple Past
bringen
Translation: to bring
brachte
Translation: brought
denken
Translation: to think
dachte
Translation: thought
rennen
Translation: to run
rannte
Translation: ran
nennen
Translation: to name
nannte
Translation: named
kennen
Translation: to be acquainted with
kannte
Translation: was acquainted with
wissen
Translation: to know
wusste
Translation: knew

Did you notice something? The simple past forms of bringen meaning to bring and denken meaning to think rhyme in both German and English! And rennen, nennen, and kennen all rhyme in German too! That makes them easier to remember, don’t you think?

List of German verbs that typically appear in the simple past, rather than the perfect tense

The verbs below are almost always used in the simple past and not in the perfect tense. There’s a reason though: these verbs belong to a more literary register and are not typical in spoken language. Other than scheinen (schien), these verbs are all regular verbs.

  • scheinen
    Translation: to seem
  • stammen
    Translation: to originate
  • schwanen
    Translation: to have a premonition
  • drohen zu
    Translation: to threaten to
  • pflegen zu
    Translation: to be used to,
    to be accustomed to