This article will give you the best guide to learning German verb conjugation. It will help you master the German language.
German verb conjugation
You will probably have to speak German at some point in your life. Maybe you are dating someone who speaks German or is just passionate about the culture and wants to learn more.
Either way, learning German can be a difficult task. Memorizing verbs is one of the hardest parts of learning a new language. Luckily, there are ways to make it easier on yourself.
This guide will teach you everything you need to know about German Verb Conjugations made easy. You will get an explanation of what verbs are, how conjugation works in general, and plenty of examples specific to German.
By the end of this read, you should feel confident in your ability to conjugate any verb into any tense that you may need for future use!
What are verb conjugations?
The verb conjugation is the specific usage of a verb. For example, “I run” is the first person, present tense conjugation of the verb “run”.
In German, conjugating verbs is essential for forming any valid sentence. If you do not know how to conjugate verbs, you are missing out on a large chunk of the German language.
This is why it is such a difficult skill to learn. Every German verb has eight possible forms.
In each form, the verb has a different “person” (who is performing the action), “tense” (when the action is occurring), and “grammatical mood” (the speaker’s attitude towards the action). The eight forms are the present tense, the past tense, the past participle, the infinitive, the subjunctive, the conditional, the imperative, and the present participle.
The basics of verb conjugations
Every German verb has an ending that changes depending on the tense of the sentence, who is doing the action, and other elements. If you can take the verb “to run” as an example, the ending of the verb for the first person singular present tense is “to run”.
If you must conjugate it for the past tense, the ending is “ran”. In essence, the verb ending indicates that you’re using a specific tense. If you want to change the tense of your sentence, change the verb ending. This is why they are so important and difficult to keep track of.
Why are German verb conjugations hard?
As we’ve already discussed, verb conjugations are essential to forming any German sentence. Unfortunately, the verb endings change significantly depending on the tense of the sentence.
For example, the first person singular present tense of the verb “to run” ends with an “-e”. Let’s say you want to write a sentence that describes something in the past.
In this case, the tense is “past”. Unfortunately, the past tense of “to run” ends with an “-t”. When we’re talking about the past tense, “ran” is the ending of the verb “to run” for the first person singular. So when you combine the two, you get “I ran”.
The tenses of the German verb
As we’ve discussed, there are six different tenses of the verb. Fortunately, only four of them are used regularly.
The other two, the subjunctive and the conditional, are used more in formal writing and less in everyday speech. The four most common tenses are the present, past, past perfect, and future tenses.
The present tense describes an action happening right now, the past tense describes an action that happened in the past, the past perfect tense describes an action that happened before something else in the past, and the future tense describes an action that is yet to happen.
This is the tense you should focus on most when learning how to conjugate German verbs.
Tips to remember German verb conjugations
For starters, it is important to remember that verb conjugation is an “ending” problem. All you have to do is change the ending of the verb and use a different tense.
The best way to do this is to write down a list of the common verbs you will use often. Then, next to each verb, write its ending. With enough practice, this should become natural.
Learning how to conjugate German verbs is a skill that takes time and effort to master. Luckily, there are ways to make the process easier.
For example, you can write a list of common verbs and their endings. You can also learn the rules of how tenses work and use them to your advantage.
By studying and putting in the work, you will be able to master German verb conjugations in no time.
