In this topic you will find out everything about German regular verbs also called weak verbs. How they form The Present Tense, The Past Tense and The Perfect Tense, how to form infinitive stem, what is actually infinitive stem, how to form The Simple Past Tense and how to form Participle II of regular verbs.
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Weak/regular verbs in The Present Tense
What is the Stem of a Verb?
Weak/regular verbs in the past tense
How to form Participle II of regular verbs
Weak/regular verbs in The Present Tense
Most German verbs are weak verbs and follow the same pattern in the present and the past tense; that’s why they are sometimes also called regular verbs (regelmäßige Verben).
This is the pattern for the conjugation of the verbs in the present tense. Take the ending –en or –n off the infinitive of the verb to find the stem.
For example:
infinitive = stem
spielen = spiel
wandern= wander
arbeiten = arbeit
then add the personal endings: -e, -st, -t, -en, -t, -en OR -e, –est, –et, -en, –et, -en
spielen / arbeiten
| ich spiele du spielst er,sie,es spielt wir spielen ihr spielt Sie (formal) spielen sie spielen | I play you play he, she, it plays we play you play you play they play | ich arbeite du arbeitest er,sie,es arbeitet wir arbeiten ihr arbeitet Sie (formal) arbeiten sie arbeiten | I work you work he,she,it works we work you work you work they work |
Note that the formal form Sie for you is exactly like the sie – they, except that it is written with a capital letter, so you don’t have to learn it.
The endings for we – wir, they – sie and you – Sie (formal) are all the same as the infinitive ending. All you have to memorize are the verb endings for ich, du, er/sie/es and ihr.
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Grammar Contents
What is the Stem of a Verb?
The infinitive of a verb in German consists of the stem and the ending -en or -n.
Here is the example:
spielen = spiel + en
spiel – = verb stem
–en = ending
In many languages the verb ending changes according to who is doing the action and you have to learn the pattern of the verb. In the table below is the pattern of the German verbs spielen (to play a game, to play an instrument) and arbeiten (to work):
| – e | – e | ||
| – st | – est | ||
| spiel – | – t | arbeit – | – et |
| – en | – en | ||
| – t | – et | ||
| – en | – en |
As you see in German, the endings change for each person, so you have to learn them.
In the table below you can see how to conjugate regular verbs in The Present Tense.
| VERB: | spielen | wohnen | machen | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| inf. stem: | spiel- | wohn- | mach- | |
| ich | spiele | wohne | mache | |
| Singular | du | spielst | wohnst | machst |
| er | spielt | wohnt | macht | |
| wir | spielen | wohnen | machen | |
| Plural | ihr | spielt | wohnt | macht |
| sie | spielen | wohnen | machen |
In English, we only change the ending when we are talking about
he/she or it plays,
he/she/it lieves,
he/she/it makes/does, so we don’t have to learn our verbs off by heart.
You can find out more about The Present Tense in the lesson The Present Tense of regular verbs in German.
Weak / regular verbs in The Past Tense
This is the pattern for the conjugation of the verbs in the past tense. Take the –en or –n off the infinitive of the verb to find the stem,e.g.:
infinitive= stem
spielen = spiel
wandern= wander
arbeiten = arbeit
then add the personal endings: -te, -test, -te, -ten, -tet, -ten or -te, –test, –ete, -ten, –ete, -ten
spielen/arbeiten
| ich spielte du spieltest er,sie,es spielte wir spielten ihr spieltet Sie (formal) spielten sie spielten | I played you played he, she, it played we played you played you played they played | ich arbeitete du arbeitest er,sie es arbeitet wir arbeiteten ihr arbeitet Sie (formal) arbeiteten sie arbeiteten | I workd you workd he, she, it workd we workd you workd you workd they workd |
German weak/regular verbs are similar to English regular verbs:
spielen/ spielte/ gespielt= play/played/played,
weten/ wartete/ gewartet = wait/waited/waited
fragen/ fragte/ gefragt = ask/asked/ asked
glauben/ glaubte/ geglaubt =believe/ believed/ believed
In the table below you can see how to conjugate regular verbs in The Past Tense.
| VERB: | spielen | arbeiten | |
|---|---|---|---|
| inf. stem: | spiel- | arbeit- | |
| ich | spielte | arbietete | |
Singular | du | spieltest | arbietetest |
| er | spielte | arbietete | |
| wir | spielten | arbeiteten | |
Plural | ihr | spieltet | arbeitetet |
| sie | spielten | arbeiteten |
How to form the Past Participle of regular verbs?
In English, the past participle of regular verbs is formed by adding -ed to the infinitive: play → played, watch → watched, dance → danced.
In German, weak ‘regular’ verbs form their past participles in this way:
The Past participles of weak verbs start with ge- and end in -t : gespielt, gefragt, gemacht, gekauft,gewohnt
To form the past participle of a weak ‘regular’ verb you simply add ge- at the beginning and –(e)t to the end of the verb stem.
ge + spiel + (e)t
In the table below you can see how to conjugate regular verbs in The Past Participle.
| VERB: | spielen | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| inf. stem: | spiel- | ||
| ich | habe | gespielt | |
| Singular | du | hast | gespielt |
| er | hat | gespielt | |
| wir | haben | gespielt | |
| Plural | ihr | habet | gespielt |
| sie | haben | gespielt |
That is all on this topic. If you have any questions write to me, I will gladly reply to each questions.
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