German: Verb Tables

This is a reference for German verbs: 166 of the most useful ones, each conjugated in every tense a learner needs up to the intermediate stage, with the irregular forms marked in red and a play button on every form. Search for a verb or pick one from the list, read its table, and when a form will not stick, press Train this verb for a short typing drill.

Your device has no German voice, so the play buttons are hidden.

Find a verb

Type an infinitive or an English meaning. Accents are optional in the search box. Every form is a button: tap it to hear it.

All the verbs

Filter by level or by family, then pick one. The families group verbs that change in the same way, so learning one teaches you the rest.

Family	Verbs	For example
weak (regular)	78	machen, sagen, spielen, wohnen
weak (regular), separable	7	abholen, zumachen, aufmachen, aufräumen
mixed	5	bringen, denken, kennen, nennen
mixed, separable	1	mitbringen
strong	29	gehen, kommen, bekommen, stehen
strong, stem change	24	geben, nehmen, sprechen, helfen
strong, separable	6	ankommen, aufstehen, anrufen, einsteigen
strong, separable, stem change	5	fernsehen, abfahren, einschlafen, einladen
modal	6	können, müssen, wollen, dürfen
irregular	5	sein, haben, werden, tun

The tenses on this page

You do not need every tense at once. The present comes first, then one past and the near future; the rest arrive as you need them.

Tense	When it is used
Present Präsens	Now, habits, and very often the future too: ich fahre morgen, I am going tomorrow.
Perfect (spoken past) Perfekt	The everyday spoken past: ich habe gekauft, ich bin gefahren. Most verbs take haben; verbs of moving from place to place or changing state take sein.
Simple past (written past) Präteritum	The past of stories and of writing. In speech it is used mostly for sein, haben, the modals and a few others: ich war, ich hatte, ich konnte.
Future Futur I	werden + the infinitive at the end: ich werde fahren. Often the present does the same job.
Subjunctive II (would, could), core verbs Konjunktiv II	Would, could, if only: ich wäre, ich hätte, ich könnte. Also polite requests: Könnten Sie mir helfen?
Conditional with würde würde + Infinitiv	würde + infinitive, the everyday way to say "would" for most verbs: ich würde gern kommen.
Imperative (du, ihr, Sie) Imperativ	Telling someone to do something, for du, ihr and Sie: komm!, kommt!, kommen Sie!

How the tables were made

German verbs fall into two main families. Weak verbs keep their stem: machen, machte, gemacht. Strong verbs change their vowel in the past and take a participle in -en: sprechen, sprach, gesprochen; many also change it in the du and er forms of the present (du sprichst). A few mixed verbs change the vowel but take weak endings: bringen, brachte, gebracht. Separable verbs send their prefix to the end of the clause: ich stehe um sieben auf. In speech the past is mostly the Perfekt, with haben or sein; the Präteritum belongs to writing, apart from sein, haben, the modals and a few others. The Konjunktiv II is given for the core verbs; for the rest, everyday German says würde + infinitive. A handful of verbs take haben or sein depending on region: in the south, Austria and Switzerland people say ich bin gestanden, gesessen, gelegen, where the north says ich habe.

Every form on this page was produced by rule: the regular endings of each family, plus a short list of irregular stems and forms. The output was then checked form by form against a published conjugation reference (see Sources), and every difference was fixed until none was left.

Red is a strict test. A form is red when it differs from what the plain regular pattern of its family would give: a new stem, a changed vowel, a spelling change or a moved accent. Some forms that grammar books call regular, because they only change their spelling to keep a sound, are red here too, because they are exactly the forms people misspell.

Reading a table well

• Look for the pattern first. Most verbs follow their family. Learn one regular verb of each family by heart and the tables become a check, not a list.
• Red marks the surprise. A red form is one the regular rule would get wrong. Those are the forms worth drilling; the rest you can work out.
• Say the forms aloud in order. Six forms in rhythm stick better than six forms read silently.
• Then put one in a sentence. A form you have used in a sentence about your own day is a form you will find again when you speak.

What sticks

• Verbs come in families; learn one model verb per family and most tables follow.
• The irregular forms are few and very common: they are the ones to drill.
• Present first, then one past and the near future; the other tenses as you meet them.
• Tap a form to hear it; say it back before you move on.
• Use the drill for one verb at a time, a few minutes a day, until the red forms come without thinking.