Wednesday, March 18, 2009

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."

No comments:

Post a Comment