Posted by Conjugation simply means relating a verb to a subject. What this means is that, a verb can only be conjugated to the subject of a sentence. German conjugation of all verbs is not just different from that of English but also a little bit trickier. Hence, to conjugate German verbs a distinct knowledge of the three verb-parts is required
The Parts of A German Verb
German verbs can be divided into three parts for the purpose of conjugation namely;
- The verb-end
- The stem
- The stem- end
The verb-end which can either be “en“ or “n” can also indirectly determine the conjugating suffix of some verbs. It is the part of the verb that must first be detached before conjugation is done.
The stem contains the vowel that is liable to changes in certain verbs. It is the remainder of the verb after the verb ending has been detached. The verb category determines whether the verb would have a stem change or not. Weak verbs usually don’t have stem changes but strong verbs on the other hand usually make stem vowel changes where necessary.
The stem-end on the other hand is the last letter of the stem. This is where the conjugating suffix attaches itself. For certain verbs, there could be rules as to what stem-end attaches to what suffix.
Conjugation of Auxiliary Verbs in German
They have no regulating table. Hence they must be mastered as well.
| Subjects | sein | haben | tun | werden |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ich | bin | habe | tue | werde |
| du | bist | hast | tust | wirst |
| er/sie/es | ist | hat | tut | wird |
| wir | sind | haben | tun | werden |
| ihr | seid | habt | tut | werdet |
| sie/Sie | sind | haben | tun | werden |
Conjugation of Modal Verbs in German
You do not conjugate this category of verbs like the main verbs. They have no guidance as to their conjugation. Hence, one has to master them just as they are. The good thing is that they are quite few in number 😜.
| Subjects | sollen | wollen | dürfen | müssen | können | mögen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ich du er/sie/es wir ihr sie/Sie | soll sollst soll sollen sollt sollen | will willst will wollen wollt wollen | darf darfst darf dürfen dürft dürfen | muss musst muss müssen müsst müssen | kann kannst kann können könnt können | mag magst mag mögen mögt mögen |
Conjugation of Regular/Weak Verbs in German
For the conjugation of weak verbs, the stem-ending and sometimes the verb-ending are the most important and so have been categorized as shown in the table below.
| Subject | t, and d1 | s, z and ß2 | any other letter3 | verbs ending with n4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ich | e | e | e | e |
| du | est | st | st | st |
| er/sie/es | et | t | t | t |
| wir | en | en | en | n |
| ihr | et | t | t | t |
| sie/Sie | en | en | en | n |
To conjugate the weak verb kochen for example, the verb-ending -en must first be detached from the whole leaving behind the stem koch-. Looking at the stem, the last letter is -h. Hence belongs to the “any other” category of stems on the table above.
It is important to note that this conjugation table was formulated using subject pronouns. So, in the case of a subject noun, one must think of the corresponding subject pronoun to that noun.
Note that when conjugating verbs that end with “n” and with stem-ending “l” such as “sammeln” to the first person pronoun “ich”, you have to first remove the “e” which precedes the “l” before attaching the conjugation suffix. This is not so for others with a different stem-end such as “klettern”.
Conjugation of Irregular/Strong Verbs in German
Recall that this category of German verbs has an irregular conjugation pattern and stem changes in the present tense, past tense or both. They can be conjugated with the column below.
| Subjects | Conjugation suffix |
|---|---|
| ich du er/sie/es wir ihr sie/Sie | -e -(e)st -(e)t -en -(e)t -en |
Note: Strong verbs that end with d or t may add an e at du, er/sie/es and ihr conjugation.
Stem Vowel & Consonant Changes of Strong Verbs
In addition to the conjugation suffix above, the following stem vowel and consonant changes occur in either the present tense or Präteritum in the first and second syllables respectively;
| Infinitive vowel/consonant | Gegenwart changes | Condition | Präteritum changes | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a (e.g fahren, fangen, fallen, laden) | ä | always | i ie, u | stress on the first syllable stress on second syllable |
| e (e.g essen, geben, stehen, nehmen, stehlen, gehen) | i ie | stress on the first syllable stress on second syllable | a i | stress on the second syllable stress on the second syllable |
| ei (e.g schreiben, steigen) | unchanged | always | ie | always |
| ie (e.g biegen, fliegen, fliehen) | unchanged | always | o | always |
| o (e.g kommen) | unchanged | always | a | always |
| i (e.g schwimmen, singen, finden, gewinnen) | unchanged | always | a u | always |
| ss (e.g ) | unchanged | always | ß | stress on the first syllable |
| ß (e.g beißen, schließen, fließen) | unchanged | always | ss | stress on the second syllable |
| d (e.g schneiden) | unchanged | always | tt | stress on the first syllable |
Note that;
- The stem-vowel change only takes place at the second (du) and third person (er/sie/es) subject
- e doesn’t change when h is directly after it e.g gehen, stehen but with exemption of nehmen which changes to im.
- ei changes to i in beißen rather than ie due to the change in stem-ending from ß to ss which requires a short vowel.
Conjugation of Mixed Verbs in German
This verb category except wissen can be conjugated with the slightly modified stem-ending with -n column of the weak verb table just like that of strong verbs above as described below.
| Subjects | kennen | wenden | wissen |
|---|---|---|---|
| ich | kenne | wende | weiß |
| du | kennst | wendest | weißt |
| er/sie/es | kennt | wendet | weiß |
| wir | kennen | wenden | wissen |
| ihr | kennt | wendet | wisst |
| sie/Sie | kennen | wenden | wissen |
Conjugation of German Verbs with -ieren
One word about these verbs is that you can equally conjugate them like weak verbs and with the “any other” column of the weak verb table as described below.
| Subjects | passieren | studieren | informieren |
|---|---|---|---|
| ich | passiere | studiere | informiere |
| du | passierst | studierst | informierst |
| er/sie/es | passiert | studiert | informiert |
| wir | passieren | studieren | informieren |
| ihr | passiert | studiert | informiert |
| sie/Sie | passieren | studieren | informieren |
Conjugation of Separable Verbs in German
Since these verbs have detachable prefixes, they are conjugated based on the type of root verb which could be either a weak, strong or mixed verb i.e separable weak verbs like weak verbs, separable strong verbs like strong verbs and separable mixed verbs like mixed verbs after the prefix is cut out. Thereafter, the prefix must be placed at the end of the sentence as illustrated below.
| Subjects | anmachen | ansprechen | anwenden |
|---|---|---|---|
| ich | mache an | spreche an | wende an |
| du | machst an | sprichst an | wendest an |
| er/sie/es | macht an | spricht an | wendet an |
| wir | machen an | sprechen an | wenden an |
| ihr | macht an | sprecht an | wendet an |
| sie/Sie | machen an | sprechen an | wenden an |
Conjugation of Inseparable Verbs in German
These verbs do not detach from their prefixes during conjugation. They are rather conjugated with the prefixes intact and just like separable verbs, the root verbs of these inseparable verbs are conjugated based on their type but with the prefix attached as described below.
| Subjects | besuchen | versprechen | erkennen |
|---|---|---|---|
| ich | besuche | verspreche | erkenne |
| du | besuchst | versprichst | erkennst |
| er/sie/es | besucht | verspricht | erkennt |
| wir | besuchen | versprechen | erkennen |
| ihr | besucht | versprecht | erkennt |
| sie/Sie | besuchen | versprechen | erkennen |
- Column is the suffix that should be attached to all weak verbs with stem-end “t” or “d” to their respective subjects.
↩︎ - Column is the suffix for stem-ending “s, z and ß”
↩︎ - Column is for all other stem-ending such as h, k, m etc
↩︎ - Column is for all weak verbs that end with “n”. In this case, the stem-end is not required. ↩︎