Wednesday, March 18, 2009

German Strong Verbs (A-F)

Irregular German Verbs

How to Conjugate German Irregular (Strong) Verbs

In the following charts we have listed the principal parts of German verbs that have irregular forms that must be memorized. (Weak (regular) verbs follow a predictable pattern, and do not vary the way that strong verbs do.)

Only some compound verbs are listed (i.e., anfangen). To conjugate other compound verbs based on other verbs, e.g., abgeben, based on geben, simply use the stem verb (in this case "geben") with the prefix (in this case "ab") to get the past (gab ab) or past participle (abgegeben).

NOTE: Participles that require sein as a helping verb are indicated by ist in front of the past participle. The English meaning shown for each verb may be only one of several possible meanings.

Starke Verben - Strong Verbs - A-F

INFINITIV

PRÄTERITUM
(Preterite)

PERFEKT
(Past Participle)

A A A

anfangen begin

fing an began

angefangen begun

ankommen arrive

kam an arrived

ist angekommen arrived

anrufen call up

rief an called up

angerufen called up

B B B

backen bake

backte baked

gebacken baked

befehlen command

befahl commanded

befohlen commanded

beginnen begin

begann began

begonnen begun

beißen bite

biss bit

gebissen bitten

bekommen get, receive

bekam got

bekommen gotten

bergen salvage

barg salvaged

geborgen salvaged

bersten burst

barst burst

geborsten burst

betrügen deceive

betrog deceived

betrogen deceived

biegen bend

bog bent

gebogen bent

bieten offer

bot offered

geboten offered

binden tie

band tied

gebunden tied

bitten request

bat requested

gebeten requested

blasen blow

blies blew

geblasen blown

bleiben stay

blieb stayed

ist geblieben stayed

bleichen bleach

blich bleached

geblichen bleached

braten roast

briet roasted

gebraten roasted

brechen break

brach broke

gebrochen broken

brennen* burn

brannte burned

gebrannt burned

bringen* bring

brachte brought

gebracht brought

*Both brennen and bringen are "mixed" verbs, combining elements of strong and weak verbs.

D D D

denken* think

dachte thought

gedacht thought

*The verb denken is a "mixed" verb, combining elements of strong and weak verbs.

dreschen thresh

drosch threshed

gedroschen threshed

dringen force

drang forced

gedrungen forced

dürfen may

durfte was allowed

gedurft* been allowed

*Used with an infinitive, as for all modals, the past participle is the infinitive dürfen: "Wir haben nicht gehen dürfen."

E E E

empfangen receive

empfing received

empfangen received

empfehlen recommend

empfahl recommended

empfohlen recommended

erfinden invent

erfand invented

erfunden invented

erlöschen extinguish

erlosch extinguished

erloschen extinguished

erschallen echo, sound

erscholl sounded

erschollen sounded

erschrecken* scare

erschrak scared

erschrocken scared

*This verb has both strong (passive) and weak (active) forms: "Ich habe ihn erschreckt." (I scared him.) and "Ich erschrak bei der Explosion." (I was startled/scared by the explosion.)

essen eat

ate

gegessen eaten

F F F

fahren travel

fuhr traveled

ist gefahren traveled

fallen fall

fiel fell

ist gefallen fallen

fangen catch

fing caught

gefangen caught

fechten fence

focht fenced

gefochten fenced

finden find

fand found

gefunden found

fliegen fly

flog flew

ist geflogen flown

fliehen flee

floh fled

ist geflohen fled

fließen flow

floss flowed

ist geflossen flowed

fressen gorge

fraß gorged

gefressen gorged

frieren freeze

fror froze

gefroren* frozen

*The verb frieren takes the helping verb haben or sein, depending on its meaning. In most cases ("to be cold") it is "hat gefroren," but in the meaning of "to freeze, turn into ice," it is "Der Boden / Das Wasser ist steif gefroren." (The ground / water has frozen solid.)

frohlocken rejoice

frohlockte rejoiced

frohlockt rejoiced


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