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Irregularities in the Conjugation of Regular Verbs in German

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Today we’ll be talking about some irregularities in the conjugation of regular verbs in German.

Regular Verbs – Revision

I’m sure you remember well how regular verbs are conjugated. Let’s revise shortly. Machen (to make) is a good example of a regular verb:

regular verbs

ichmach –ewirmach –en
dumach –stihrmach –t
er / sie / esmach –tsie / Siemach -en

Well, pretty simple. But sometimes it would be difficult to pronounce some forms.

Verbs with Stems Ending in –d or -t

How about the regular verb reden (to speak)?

regular verbs

Ich red –e, du red –st?, er red –t? Well, verbs like that take an additional e in order to be easier to pronounce. By verbs like that I mean verbs ending in –d or –t (after you remove the infinitive –en ending), so for example red –en, arbeit –en (to work), hust –en (to cough).

Let’s start with a verb whose stem ends in -d, like reden. So, after inserting the additional e, the full conjugations looks like this:

regular verbs

ichred –ewirred –en
dured –e-stihrred –e-t
er / sie / esred –e-tsie / Siered -en

And now a verb whose stem ends in -t, like arbeiten:

regular verbs

icharbeit –e wirarbeit –en
duarbeit –e-stihrarbeit –e-t
er / sie / esarbeit –e-tsie / Siearbeit -en

Some other popular verbs that behave like this include:

regular verbs

reiten – to ride a horse

bitten – to ask for sth

bieten – to offer

kosten – to cost

leiden – to suffer

So, we say:

er reitethe rides a horse
ihr bittetyou’re asking (for something)
du bietestyou offer
das kostetthis costs
sie leidetshe’s suffering

Verbs with Stems Ending in –m or -n

The same rule, i.e. the insertion of an e applies to verbs with stems ending in –m or –n following another consonant.

regular verbs

An example is atmen (to breathe). It would be really a challenge to pronounce all the consonants in the cluster: du atm –st, er atm –t. But we have this e, lucky us.

Here’s the conjugation of the verb atmen:

regular verbs

ichatm –e wiratm –en
duatm –e-stihratm –e-t
er / sie / esatm –e-tsie / Sieatm -en

And here are some examples with such verbs:

regular verbs

atmento breatheEr atmet zu schnell.He’s breathing too fast.
rechnento calculateDu rechnest zu langsam.You calculate too slowly.
zeichnento draw (a picture)Ihr zeichnet schön.You draw beautifully.

Verbs with Stems Ending in –s, -ß, -z or -tz

Another minor irregularity occurs in verbs with stems ending in –s, –ß, –z, –tz. These verbs conjugate regularly, the only difference is the second person singular, where the ending gets simplified to –t (instead of –st).

As an example let’s take the verb sitzen (to sit):

regular verbs

ichsitz –e wirsitz –en
dusitz –tihrsitz –t
er / sie / essitz –tsie / Siesitz -en

Some examples:

regular verbs

heißento be calledWie heißt du?What’s your name? (What are you called?)
rasento move fastDu rast nie.You never move (drive) fast.
heizento heat (a room)Du heizt zu viel.You’re heating (the room) too much.
sitzento sitDu sitzt rechts.You’re sitting on the right.
tanzento danceDu tanzt gut.You dance well.

Verbs with Infinitives Ending in –n

Some infinitives end in –n. They also show some irregularities, so let’s look at them next. They can be divided into those ending in –eln and those ending in –ern. Let’s see how to conjugate them. Let’s take two verbs, one in each group:

regular verbs

lächeln – smile

and

ändern – change

ichlächl –eänder –ewirlächel –nänder –n
dulächel -ständer -stihrlächel -tänder -t
er / sie / eslächel -tänder -tsie / Sielächel -nänder -n

So, the ones ending in –eln, lose the e in first person singular: ich lächle instead of ich *lächele. The other ones don’t. And look at the plural forms (wir and sie). They’re just like the infinitives, so only ending in –n.

INFO

If you like the article and would like to see more content like this, make sure to subscribe to my Prospero German YouTube channel and visit my blog at prosperolingo.com.

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