German Strong Verbs (G-M)

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 - G-M
INFINITIV	PRÄTERITUM (Preterite)	PERFEKT (Past Participle)
G
gären ferment	gor fermented	gegoren fermented
gebären bear (child)	gebar bore	geboren born
geben give	gab gave	gegeben given
gedeihen flourish	gedieh flourished	ist gediehen flourished
gefallen be pleasing, like	gefiel liked	gefallen liked
gehen go	ging went	ist gegangen gone
gelingen succeed	gelang succeeded	ist gelungen succeeded
gelten be valid	galt was valid	gegolten been valid
genesen recover	genas recovered	genesen recovered
genießen enjoy	genoß enjoyed	genossen enjoyed
geschehen happen	geschah happened	ist geschehen happened
gewinnen win	gewann won	gewonnen won
gießen pour	goß poured	gegossen poured
gleichen resemble	glich resembled	geglichen resembled
gleiten glide, slide	glitt glided	ist geglitten glided
glimmen glow, smoulder	glomm* glowed	ist geglommen* glowed
*Also glimmte and hat geglimmt (weak)
graben dig	grub dug	gegraben dug
greifen grasp	griff grasped	gegriffen grasped
H
haben have	hatte had	gehabt had
For the complete conjugation of the verb haben in the present tense, see Two Important Verbs: haben and sein
halten hold	hielt held	gehalten held
hängen hang	hing hung/hanged*	gehangen hung/hanged*
*The verb hängen is weak in transitive situations ("Er hängte das Bild an die Wand.") and strong in intransitive situations ("Das Bild hing an der Wand.").
hauen hew, hit	haute* hit	gehauen hit
*The strong past form hieb is used when the meaning is "struck (him) with a weapon."
heben lift	hob lifted	gehoben lifted
heißen be called	hieß named	geheißen named
helfen help	half helped	geholfen helped
K
kennen* know	kannte knew	gekannt known
*The verb kennen is a "mixed" verb, combining elements of strong and weak verbs.
klingen ring	klang rang	geklungen rung
kneifen pinch	kniff pinched	gekniffen pinched
kommen come	kam came	ist gekommen come
können can	konnte could	gekonnt* could
*With an infinitive, the past participle is können: "Ich habe nicht gehen können."
kriechen crawl	kroch crawled	ist gekrochen crawled
L
laden load	lud loaded	geladen loaded
lassen let, allow	ließ let	gelassen let
laufen run	lief ran	ist gelaufen run
leiden suffer	litt suffered	gelitten suffered
leihen lend	lieh lent	geliehen lent
lesen read	las read	gelesen read
liegen* lie	lag lay	gelegen lain
*Do not confuse liegen (lie, recline, strong) and (sich) legen (lay, put, weak)!
lügen lie	log lied	gelogen lied
M
mahlen grind	mahlte ground	gemahlen ground
meiden avoid	mied avoided	gemieden avoided
messen measure	maß measured	gemessen measured
misslingen fail	misslang failed	misslungen failed
mögen like	mochte liked	gemocht* liked
*With an infinitive, the past participle is mögen: "Sie hat nicht gehen mögen."
müssen must	musste had to	gemusst* had to
*Used with an infinitive, as with all modals, the past participle is the infinitive müssen: "Wir haben nicht gehen müssen."