Irregular verbs with vowel changes
Today’s lesson is about Irregular verbs with vowel changes so you can continue our last lesson about irregular verbs.
There is a group of German verbs where the vowel in the stem changes in the present tense.
These changes apply only in the du and er/sie/es forms. None of the other endings is affected. Here are examples in some frequently used verbs:
| infinitive | finite verb | |
| to sleep | schlafen | er schläft |
| to eat | essen | sie isst |
| to speak | sprechen | du sprichst |
| to read | lesen | du liest |
| to see | sehen | er sieht |
Examples:
Liest du gern Harry Potter?
Do you like reading Harry Potter?
Er sieht ein Fußballspiel.
He is watching a football match.
Sie isst gern Pizza.
She likes eating pizza.
Sprichst du Deutsch?
Do you speak German?
Sie schläft bis elf Uhr.
She sleeps until eleven o’clock.
Looking out for patterns
These changes apply only to a limited number of verbs. It is best to learn these verbs by heart. There are also certain patterns which can help you predict how a verb changes. They are:
a → ä
e → i
e → ie
Here they are in more detail.
Important verbs – apart from schlafen – which follow this pattern are:
fahren → du fährst, er/sie/es fährt to drive
halten → du hältst, er/sie/es hält to hold, to stop
tragen → du trägst, er/sie/es trägt to carry
waschen → du wäschst, er/sie/es wäscht to wash
Examples:
Du fährst morgen nach Hause.
You’re going home tomorrow.
Gleich fällt es runter!
Any moment now it will fall (down)!
Er trägt ein neues T-Shirt.
He wears a new T-shirt.
Changes from e to i
You have seen that sprechen and essen are two prominent verbs which change their vowel from e to i. Other verbs which follow this pattern are:
| geben | du gibst, er/sie/es gibt | to give |
| helfen | du hilfst, er/sie/es hilft | to help |
| treffen | du triffst, er/sie/es trifft | to meet |
| werfen | du wirfst, er/sie/es wirft | to throw |
Examples:
Er hilft Frau Maier. He helps Frau Maier.
Triffst du heute Angelika? Are you meeting Angelika today?
Er wirft den Ball zu Beckham. He throws the ball to Beckham.
The verb nehmen also follows the e to i pattern, but it has greater spelling variations. Here are all forms:
ich nehme wir nehmen
du nimmst ihr nehmt
Sie nehmen Sie nehmen
er/sie/es nimmt sie nehmen
Examples:
Nimmst du Kaffee oder Tee? Do you take coffee or tea?
Er nimmt ein heißes Bad. He is taking a hot bath.
Where to look for irregular forms
All verbs with a vowel change are irregular verbs. You will find a list of irregular verbs, often also called strong verbs, at the back of most course books and dictionaries, as well as at the back of this one.
But beware: not all irregular verbs change their spelling in the present tense.
Other irregular verbs
There are also two other groups of verb forms which do not conform to the
regular pattern in the present tense:
• the verbs sein and haben ‘to be’ and ‘to have’
• the modal verbs
