Handout: Stem-Changing Verbs

Handout: Stem-Changing Verbs
A number of German verbs undergo a change in the stem vowel in the present tense. This only affects the second-person singular (DU) form and the third-person singular (ER, SIE, ES) forms. The other forms (ich, wir, ihr, Sie) act just like regular verbs, and in every person, the endings remain the same as for regular verbs. You cannot automatically know by seeing an infinitive (e.g. ‘sehen’) that a verb will stem-change; you’ll need to memorize which verbs belong to this class.

1. Vowel change from e › i

Verbs you need to know that follow this pattern (e › i) are
essen, geben, nehmen, sprechen, treffen, and vergessen.

Other verbs that you may encounter include
brechen (to break), helfen (to help), sterben (to die), werfen (to throw).

2. Vowel change from e › ie

Verbs you need to know that follow this pattern (e › ie) are
lesen and sehen (and its associated forms aussehen and fernsehen).

Other verbs that you may encounter include
empfehlen (to recommend), geschehen (to happen), stehlen (to steal).

3. Vowel change from a › ä

Verbs you need to know that follow this pattern (a › ä) are:
anfangen, einladen, fahren, halten, laufen, schlafen (and its relative einschlafen), and tragen.

Other verbs that you may encounter include
backen (to bake), fallen (to fall), lassen (to leave, to let), schlagen (to hit), waschen (to wash).

Now it’s up to you. First, make sure you understand the patterns of stem-changing verbs. Fill in the three conjugation tables below.

Now try some ‘dehydrated’ sentences: combine the elements below to make complete sentences.

Now try to translate these sentences. Just follow the same patterns we’ve been using!

Note: we probably won’t be doing a lot with the verbs einladen and halten, because they’re unusual. Here’s the full conjugation for those two verbs. What do you notice doesn’t fit the normal verb pattern, besides the stem-vowel change?

Don’t worry -- all the other verbs listed on the first page are quite normal apart from the stem change (except of course for nehmen, which loses its ‘h’ and gets a double ‘m’ instead).