The Irregular Verbs in German Are Very Easy To Learn

German Irregular Verbs: Not as Many as You Fear

The reputation of German irregular verbs is worse than they deserve. Students hear "irregular verbs" and imagine a chaotic landscape of unpredictable forms they must somehow memorize individually. This is not what awaits them. German has approximately 170 irregular (strong) verbs in common use - and the large majority of them follow one of seven predictable vowel-change patterns. The irregularity is not random. It is systematic.

The Seven Ablaut Classes

German strong verbs change their vowel in the past tense and past participle according to patterns inherited from Proto-Germanic. These patterns are called ablaut classes, and knowing them means knowing the pattern for dozens of verbs at once.

Class 1: ei - ie/i - ie/i. Schreiben (to write): schreib - schrieb - geschrieben. Bleiben (to stay): bleib - blieb - geblieben. Reiten (to ride): reit - ritt - geritten.

Class 2: ie/ü - o - o. Fliegen (to fly): flieg - flog - geflogen. Lügen (to lie): lüg - log - gelogen.

Class 3: i/e + consonant cluster - a - u. Trinken (to drink): trink - trank - getrunken. Singen (to sing): sing - sang - gesungen. Helfen (to help): hilf - half - geholfen.

Class 4: e/i - a - o. Nehmen (to take): nimm - nahm - genommen. Sprechen (to speak): sprich - sprach - gesprochen.

The High-Frequency Core

You do not need to master all 170 strong verbs to function in German. The ten most frequently used irregular verbs - sein, haben, werden, können, müssen, dürfen, wollen, sollen, mögen, kommen - cover an enormous percentage of actual usage. Learn these forms thoroughly before worrying about rarer verbs. Then learn the next tier: gehen, sehen, fahren, geben, lassen, stehen, finden, laufen, schreiben, nehmen. This set of twenty verbs, learned cold, handles most conversational German.

How to Learn Them

Learn each irregular verb in its three principal parts: infinitive - simple past - past participle. Not just the infinitive. Not the infinitive and the past. All three, together, from day one. "Schreiben, schrieb, geschrieben" - say it as a unit. Flashcards with all three parts on the back. The cost of learning them this way is low. The cost of having to go back and relearn the past forms of verbs you only half-learned is much higher.