Structure
Default: stem + -en
Exceptions:
-eln,-ern(e.g. handeln, ändern)- tun
Three principal parts
From these you derive tense, voice, and mood:
- Present stem
- Präteritum stem
- Partizip II (+ perfect auxiliary)
Tense
Past meaning
- Präteritum — written / narrative
- Perfekt — spoken past
Perfect auxiliary
- sein — change of state, change of location
- haben — everything else
Enumerate sein-perfect verbs as you meet them.
Also: Futur, Plusquamperfekt.
Mood
Imperative
- Drop du / ihr; keep Sie
- du-form: drop ending; drop umlaut if present
Konjunktiv II
- Weak: same as Präteritum
- Strong: umlaut the Präteritum stem
- Everyday: würden + infinitive
Konjunktiv I
- Weak: like present, but insert e; 3sg = 1sg
- Often ambiguous → replace with Konjunktiv II
Modal & auxiliary paradigms (3sg)
| Pres. | Prät. | Konj. II | Konj. I | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| haben | hat | hatte | hätte | habe |
| sein | ist | war | wäre | sei |
| werden | wird | wurde | würde | werde |
| können | kann | konnte | könnte | könne |
| dürfen | darf | durfte | dürfte | dürfe |
| müssen | muss | musste | müsste | müsse |
| sollen | soll | sollte | sollte* | solle |
| wollen | will | wollte | wollte* | wolle |
| mögen | mag | mochte | möchte | möge |
| möchten | möchte | — | — | — |
* sollte / wollte look identical in Prät. and Konj. II.
Voice (passive)
Structure: subject + auxiliary + (adverbials) + participle
- Process passive: werden + Partizip II
- State passive: sein + Partizip II
Conjugation classes
Weak
- Präteritum:
{stem}-te- - Partizip II:
ge-{stem}-t
| Present | Präteritum | |
|---|---|---|
| ich | -e | -te |
| du | -st | -test |
| er/es/sie | -t | -te |
| ihr | -t | -tet |
| wir/sie/Sie | -en | -ten |
Stem-ending quirks
| Ending | Rule |
|---|---|
-d, -t | insert e before ending |
consonant + m/n (not after r): -dm, -tm, -gn, -ffn, -chn, -ckn | insert e |
sibilant (-s, -ss, -ß, -x, -z, -tz) | du takes -t, not -st |
-eln, -ern | ich present drops the first e (ich handle) |
Strong
- Stem vowel changes (Ablaut)
- Präteritum 1sg / 3sg: no personal ending
- Partizip II:
ge-{stem}-en
Mixed
- Stem change and weak endings
- Small closed list — enumerate by Ablaut class
Oddballs (e.g. wissen) need separate listing.
Separable verbs
Stress
| Type | Stress |
|---|---|
| separable | on the prefix |
| inseparable | on the stem |
Sentence bracket
- No modal/auxiliary → prefix closes the Satzrahmen
- With modal/auxiliary → the finite modal/aux closes it
Insertion
| Type | zu-infinitive | Partizip II |
|---|---|---|
| separable | prefix + zu + stem | ge between prefix and stem |
| inseparable | no insertion | no ge- |
Prefix classes
| Class | Notes |
|---|---|
| always separable | mostly prepositional prefixes (hinter- is special: inseparable); meaning often compositional |
| always inseparable | opaque prefixes; meaning hard to guess |
| either | durch-, über-, um-, unter-, wider-, wieder- — enumerate pairs |
Reflexive
- Only accusative / dative forms
- 3rd person + polite Sie: sich; otherwise = personal pronoun
- Mostly lexical — enumerate reflexive verbs
Usage (lexicon side)
- Transitive / intransitive
- Object case government
- Verb + preposition collocations
- Verb + dass-clause / infinitive complement
Related
- Pronouns — reflexive forms
- Simple sentence — V2 and Satzrahmen
- zu-infinitive