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	aß 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