Time to get active, my dearests! Let’s learn some verbs. This is 25 of the most used verbs in German. I will post more later because I think you will be more motivated to study a few than the entire German dictionary?
In German, similar to English there are columns with different forms of the verbs. Yet in German there are four and not three. I will explain how to use the columns and what each of them are next week. For now I am simply going to give you work…
Learn these by heart like a childhood nursery rhyme. If you hear sein, you firstly have to know that it means to be. Secondly you need to recite the line sein, ist, war, ist gewesen in your mind. This will help you sooooo much later on. I can not stress this enough!
(Please note in the instances where I put XX it means that verb does not have a third person singular stem change in the present tense.)
German Verbs to Know by Heart
| Infinitive Form | Present Tense Stem Change Third Person Singular – If Any | Simple Past Tense – Third Person Singular | Helping Verb + Past Participle | English Equivalent |
| sein | ist | war | ist gewesen | to be |
| haben | XX | hatte | hat gehabt | to have |
| werden | wird | wurde | ist geworden | to become |
| können | kann | konnte | hat gekonnt | can, to be able to |
| müssen | muss | musste | hat gemusst | must, to have to |
| sagen | XX | sagte | hat gesagt | to say |
| machen | XX | machte | hat gemacht | to do, to make |
| geben | gibt | gab | hat gegeben | to give |
| kommen | XX | kam | ist gekommen | to come |
| sollen | soll | sollte | hat gesolt | should, ought to |
| wollen | will | wollte | hat gewollt | to want |
| gehen | XX | ging | ist gegangen | to go |
| wissen | weiß | wusste | hat gewusst | to know |
| sehen | sieht | sah | hat gesehen | to see |
| lassen | lässt | ließ | hat gelassen | to let, to allow |
| stehen | XX | stand | hat gestanden | to stand |
| finden | XX | fand | hat gefunden | to find |
| bleiben | XX | blieb | ist geblieben | to stay, to remain |
| liegen | XX | lag | hat gelegen | to lie (position) |
| heißen | XX | hieß | hat geheißen | to be called |
| denken | XX | dachte | hat gedacht | to think |
| nehmen | nimmt | nahm | hat genommen | to take |
| tun | XX | tat | hat getan | to do |
| dürfen | darf | durfte | hat gedurft | may, to be allowed |
| glauben | XX | glaubte | hat geglaubt | to believe |
xoxo,
Charlé
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