Common German Verbs

The endings for a regular verb

Take off the -en and add the ending for the person. For machen: ich mache, du machst, er macht, wir machen, ihr macht, sie machen.

Sein and haben do not follow this and have to be memorised, which is why they are listed first.

When a verb like können or wollen appears, the second verb moves to the end of the sentence: Ich kann Deutsch sprechen, literally I can German speak.

• Ich wohne in Berlin.I live in Berlin.
• Ich möchte einen Kaffee.I would like a coffee.

Present tense: the six forms

Every German verb has six present-tense forms, one per person: ich, du, er/sie/es, wir, ihr, sie/Sie. The plural forms wir and sie/Sie always match the infinitive, so half the table is free.

The two verbs below are irregular and simply have to be learned. Everything after them follows a pattern.

Verbs that change their vowel in du and er

A group of common verbs keeps the regular endings but changes the stem vowel in the du and er/sie/es forms only. e becomes i or ie, a becomes ä. The wir, ihr and sie forms are untouched.

There is no rule for which verbs do this; the ones below are the ones you meet first.

• Ich spreche Deutsch. Du sprichst Englisch.I speak German. You speak English.
• Er fährt nach München.He is driving to Munich.
• Sie liest ein Buch.She is reading a book.

Separable verbs: the prefix goes to the end

Many everyday verbs are a base verb with a prefix stuck on: auf-stehen, an-rufen, ein-kaufen. In a normal sentence the prefix breaks off and goes to the very end, which is the single most common thing that trips up a beginner reading German.

In the infinitive, and after a verb like können or wollen, the two parts stay together.

• Ich stehe um sieben auf.I get up at seven.
• Rufst du mich morgen an?Will you call me tomorrow?
• Ich muss noch einkaufen.I still have to do the shopping.

Dative verbs: the ones that take mir, dir, ihm

A short list of verbs put their object in the dative case instead of the accusative. In practice that means mir, dir, ihm, ihr, uns, euch, ihnen after them, never mich or dich.

Learn these six as a set and the case question answers itself most of the time.

• Kannst du mir helfen?Can you help me?
• Das gefällt mir.I like that, literally that pleases me.
• Der Schlüssel gehört ihr.The key belongs to her.

Which verbs are A1 and which are A2

Everything above is A1: sein, haben, the everyday actions, the modal verbs, the vowel changers and the first separable verbs are what the Goethe A1 exam expects. The dative list and the prepositions sit on the A1/A2 border.

The verbs below are the next layer, the ones an A2 course adds. They follow the same patterns, so once the tables above are solid they cost little.