German Verbs - Conjugation

Conjugation

There are three persons, two numbers and four moods (indicative, conditional, imperative and subjunctive) to consider in conjugation. There are six tenses in German: the present and past are conjugated, and there are four compound tenses. There are two categories of verbs in German: weak and strong. Some grammars use the term mixed verbs to refer to weak verbs with irregularities. For a historical perspective on German verbs, see Germanic weak verb and Germanic strong verb.

Below, the weak verb kaufen 'to buy' and the strong verb singen "to sing" are conjugated.

Conditional endings (except for sein "to be")

• All tenses and verbs: -e, -est, -e, -en, -et, -en

sein "to be" is irregular in the conditional mood

• Present conditional: sei, seist, sei, seien, sei(e)t, seien
• Past conditional: wäre, wärst, wäre, wären, wär(e)t, wären

The (e)s are inserted when the stem of the verb ends in:

-chn -d, -dn, -fn, -gn, -t, -tm

The second person singular ending is -t for verbs whose stems end in:

-s, -ß, -x, -z

Examples

beten "to pray": weak transitive verb

• Past Participle: gebetet
• Present: bete, betest, betet, beten, betet, beten
• Past: betete, betetest, betete, beteten, betetet, beteten

singen "to sing": strong transitive verb

• Past Participle: gesungen
• Present: singe, singst, singt, singen, singt, singen
• Past: sang, sangst, sang, sangen, sangt, sangen

Some strong verbs change their stem vowel in the second and third person singular of the indicative mood of the present tense.

lesen "to read": strong transitive verb

• Past Participle: gelesen
• Present: lese, liest, liest, lesen, lest, lesen
• Past: las, last, las, lasen, last, lasen

The other tenses are described in the Sentences section, because they include construction of sentences.