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How to conjugate verbs in German: Agreement, tenses, and other verb forms

By: Babsi Cabrera Thu Jun 05 2025
German
Tenses, Verbs

Verbs are words like lachen(to laugh) or sein(to be), that represent the core of the action or situation being described in a sentence. In German, verbs often change their forms in a process known as conjugation. Mastering verb conjugations is one of the most important parts of learning this language.

To conjugate a German verb, you will generally need to add endings to the verb that depend on the subject of the sentence and the tense. But sometimes you will need to make other changes as well. You may need to add an auxiliary verb or alter the vowel in the base of the verb, and some irregular verbs require more drastic changes.

Als Kind kletterte sie oft auf Bäume.

When she was a kid she often climbed on trees.

→ In the past tense, klettern(to climb) takes an ending: kletterte.

Die Frau und ihre Freunde werden selbstbewusst an der Wand hoch klettern.

The woman and her friends will confidently climb up the wall.

→ In the future tense, klettern is used with an auxiliary verb, werden(will).

In this post, we’ll give you a basic introduction to German verb conjugations. We’ll discuss the different forms you might find, how to do subject agreement, and direct you to a bunch more resources that can teach you about individual verb forms. Verbs are the central part of every sentence. Knowing how to use them correctly is the key to mastering any language. With these tips and tricks, you master German verbs in no time!

Table of Contents

    A short overview of German verbs: strong, weak and mixed verbs

    All German verbs can be sorted into three basic categories: strong, weak, and mixed. A verb’s category will tell you a lot about how it is conjugated.

    You’ll be able to tell what category a verb belongs to by looking at the three forms of the verb that are listed in a dictionary (also called its principal parts). These three forms are:

    infinitive

    dictionary form

    3rd singular past tense

    equivalent of “was”

    past participle

    equivalent of “been”

    When you learn a new German verb, it’s a good idea to learn all three of these forms, as these are usually enough for you to figure out how to conjugate it. The patterns that you see in these three forms will also tell you if the verb is strong, weak, or mixed.

    • Strong Verbs (Starke Verben):

      Strong verbs (sometimes called “irregular verbs”) will have a vowel change. The stem will not be the same in the three principle parts.

      gehen, ging, gegangen

      to go

      singen, sang, gesungen

      to sing

      trinken, trank, getrunken

      to drink

      tragen, trug, getragen

      to carry

      Some strong verbs also have a vowel change in the second person and third person singular present tense forms, but this won’t always be listed in a dictionary.

    • Weak Verbs (Schwache Verben):

      Weak verbs (sometimes called “regular verbs”) will have the same stem in all three principal parts. Weak verbs form the past tense and past participle by adding a suffix -te or -t to the verb stem. The past participle also has ge- at the beginning.

      spielen spielte, gespielt

      to play

      arbeiten, arbeitete, gearbeitet

      to work

      lernen, lernte, gelernt

      to learn

    • Mixed Verbs (Gemischte Verben):

      Mixed verbs (sometimes called “irregular regular verbs”) exhibit characteristics of both strong and weak verbs. While they take the endings expected of weak verbs, they’ll also have vowel changes, like strong verbs.

      denken, dachte, gedacht

      to think

      rennen, rannte, gerannt

      to run

      wissen, wusste, gewusst

      to know

    Tip

    Often, if the German verb has an English cognate that is irregular, it’ll be irregular in German as well.

    sink, sank, sunk → sinken, sank, gesunken

    stand, stood, stood → stehen, stand, gestanden

    Interested in these patterns and how they influence the conjugation of a verb? Check out our comprehensive post on strong, weak, and mixed verbs in German!

    What are the main tenses in German?

    In German, the main tenses are the present tense, the past tense, and the future tense. Let’s have a high-level look at how to form verbs in each of these tenses, then briefly introduce some other forms that verbs may take.

    Present tense

    In German, we use the present tense to express that something is happening at the moment of speech, to talk about general facts that are always true, or to talk about planned future events.

    To form the present tense of a regular (weak) verb, remove the -en from the infinitive and replace it with one of these: -e, -st, -t, -en (depending on the subject). Let’s look at the weak verb kochen(to cook), as an example:

    ich koche

    I cook

    du kochst

    you (sg.) cook

    er/sie/es kocht

    he/she/it cooks

    wir kochen

    we cook

    ihr kocht

    you (pl.) cook

    sie/Sie kochen

    they cook, you (fml.) cook

    As expected, there are some exceptions to the basic rule. Some verbs have stem changes in the second and third person singular, e.g. lesen(to read) → du liest(you read), er/sie/es liest(he/she/it reads). A few verbs are even more irregular. Check out our post on the German present tense to learn more about how to form and use this tense in German!

    Important

    One major difference between the present tense in English and German is that where English has a strong distinction between the present progressive (“he is running”) and the simple present (“he runs”), in German the simple present tense can be used in both cases.

    Er schläft.

    He sleeps. / He is sleeping.

    It is still possible to distinguish between the two in German, it’s just done differently than in English. Check out this post on how to express the progressive in German to learn more!

    Past tense

    There are three different past tenses in German: the simple past, the perfect tense, and past perfect. These tenses are all used to talk about events that happened before the moment of speech, but they’re used in slightly different circumstances and have different forms.

    • Simple past

      The German simple past tense is mostly found in literature and any other narrative writing, and is less common in day-to-day German. In this context, it is broadly used to talk about any event that happened in the past.

      To form the simple past, you’ll first form a simple past stem, then add an ending that depends on the subject.

      • To form the past tense stem for a weak verb, just replace the infinitive -en with the past tense marker -te-.

        Paul ist stolz, dass er den ersten Platz machte.

        Paul is proud that he won the competition.

        → machen(to make)

      • The past tense stem of a strong verb is irregular, but can be found in a dictionary, by looking at the second principal part.

        Er kann kaum glauben, dass er mit einer Medaille heim ging.

        He can hardly believe that he went home with a medal.

        → gehen(to go)

        Der Kletterwettbewerb fand letzte Woche statt.

        The climbing competition took place last week.

        → stattfinden(to take place)

      After forming the past stem, you’ll need to add endings that reflect the subject of the sentence. Check out our post on the German simple past to see examples of this, to learn about irregular patterns, and for more examples illustrating when this tense should be used.

    • Perfect tense

      The German perfect tense is the main tense used to discuss past events in everyday German. Though it is parallel in structure to the English present perfect (e.g. “has gone” or “has slept”), in German this tense can be more broadly applied to describe any past event.

      To form the German perfect tense, combine the present tense of the auxiliary verbs haben(to have) or sein(to be) with the past participle of the main verb (which is the third principal part). The participle does not change form to match the subject.

      auxiliary (present)main verb (past participle)

      Paul hat stolz den ersten Platz gemacht.

      Paul won the competition proudly.

      Er kann kaum glauben, dass er mit einer Medaille heim gegangen ist.

      He can hardly believe that he went home with a medal.

      Der Kletterwettbewerb hat letzte Woche stattgefunden.

      The climbing competition took place last week.

      Important

      The German past participle is generally formed by adding ge…t to weak verbs and ge…en to strong verbs. Strong verbs may have a vowel change as well.

      Weak Verb
      machen(to make)
      gemacht(made)
      Strong Verb
      gehen(to go)
      gegangen(gone)

      When forming the past participle of a separable verb, the ge- comes between the separable prefix and the rest of the stem.

      Separable Verb
      (strong)
      stattfinden(to take place)
      stattgefunden(taken place)

      Wondering how to choose between the two auxiliary verbs haben and sein? It depends on which main verb you’re using. Check out our post on haben vs. sein in German for a full explanation!

    • Past perfect

      The past perfect in German is used much like the English past perfect: to discuss things that “had happened” before some other past moment.

      Much like the perfect tense, the past perfect is formed by combining the auxiliary verbs haben(to have) or sein(to be) with the past participle, but in this tense you use a past tense auxiliary, rather than a present tense one.

      Compare these past perfect examples to the perfect tense sentences above:

      auxiliary (past)past participle

      Paul war stolz, dass er den ersten Platz gemacht hatte.

      Paul was proud that he had won the competition.

      Er konnte kaum glauben, dass er mit einer Medaille heim gegangen war.

      He could hardly believe that he had gone home with a medal.

      Der Kletterwettbewerb hatte letzte Woche vor dem Feiertag stattgefunden.

      The climbing competition had taken place last week before the holiday.

    Quick summary of the German past tenses

    So here’s a quick summary of how to form the German past tenses:

    Simple Past

    =

    main verb

    simple past

    Perfect Tense

    =

    haben / sein

    simple present

    main verb

    past participle

    Past Perfect

    =

    haben / sein

    simple past

    main verb

    past participle

    Future tense

    There are several different ways to discuss future events in German. The most basic form of the future is formed by combining the present tense of the auxiliary verb werden with the infinitive of the main verb.

    werden (present)infinitive

    Paul wird stolz sein.

    Paul is going to be proud.

    Er wird seinen Sieg kaum glauben können.

    He will hardly be able to believe his win.

    Der Kletterwettbewerb wird nächste Woche stattfinden.

    The climbing competition is taking place next week.

    We can use this basic structure to form some other future tenses, like the future perfect tense, which is used to discuss things that “will have happened” by some future moment. This is formed by combining werden(will) in the present tense with the infinitive of the auxiliary haben or sein and the past participle of the main verb.

    werden (present)past participle (main verb)auxiliary verb (infinitive)

    Bis heute Abend wird der Kletterwettbewerb stattgefunden haben.

    The climbing competition will have taken place by tonight.

    You can read more about the verb werden below!

    Other verb forms in German

    Besides the basic tenses, there are other ways we can change and manipulate the forms of German verbs. Unlike tenses, these forms aren’t used to express when the action takes place, but add some other flavor to the meaning of a sentence. Here are some of the most common forms. You can read about them in the linked articles!

    • The subjunctive mood is used to express doubt or uncertainty. You’ll often see this in conditional sentences (e.g. “If I had brought an umbrella, I would not be wet”), in sentences expressing wishes, or in reported speech.

      In German the subjunctive comes in two “flavors,” the subjunctive I, which is mostly used in formal writing, and the subjunctive II, which has a broader range of uses.

    • The imperative mood is used to give commands or orders.

    • The passive voice is used when the agent (“do-er”) of the action is unimportant or obvious.

    • The non-finite verb forms, which don’t change to match the subject of the sentence and don’t generally hold up a sentence, unless they work with an auxiliary. These include:

      • The infinitive (dictionary form), which will usually end in -en, -ern, -eln, or -n.

      • The past participle, equivalent to the “caught” or “been” form in English, which we saw above.

      • The present participle, which is the equivalent of the English “-ing” form, but isn’t used in as many situations.

    What are the main German auxiliary verbs?

    Above, we have seen that there are three main auxiliary verbs in German: sein(to be), haben(to have) and werden(will, to become).

    These verbs have exceptionally irregular conjugations, which it’s best to just learn by heart. Check out these conjugation charts for haben and sein or this conjugation chart for werden.

    Here is a brief summary of the main cases you’ll use each one as an auxiliary:

    • sein(to be)

      • perfect tense (for verbs of movement or state)

      • past perfect (for verbs of movement or state)

      • subjunctive I (past)

      • subjunctive II (past)

    • haben(to have)

      • present perfect

      • past perfect

      • subjunctive I (past)

      • subjunctive II (past)

    • werden(will, to become)

      • future simple

      • future perfect

      • subjunctive I (future and future perfect)

      • passive voice

    How do verbs agree with the subject in German?

    In German, a verb agrees with its subject by taking certain endings that reflect grammatical features of that subject — usually its person, number, and gender.

    It’s a lot like how, in English, you would say “I make dinner” but “She makes dinner.” Changing the subject changes the ending!

    subject (singular)verb (singular)

    Die Frau klettert jeden Tag.

    The woman climbs every day.

    subject (plural)verb (plural)

    Die Frauen klettern jeden Tag.

    The women climb every day.

    If the verb doesn’t agree with the subject, the sentence will either be ungrammatical or have the wrong meaning, so adding the right agreement ending is essential!

    subject (plural)verb (singular)

    ❌Die Frauen klettert jeden Tag.

    ❌The women climbs every day.

    Subject-verb agreement is necessary in every German tense, so learning agreement patterns is essential!

    Tips: How to find the subject of a German sentence

    One of the hardest parts of learning to make the verb agree with the subject is figuring out which noun in a sentence is the subject. Here are some tips to help you do that:

    • Look for the verb

      In a standard German word order for a main clause, the verb will always be the second “unit” within a clause. Usually, the subject will come directly before it, much like in English.

      subjectverb

      Der Kletterer trainiert jeden Tag für den Wettbewerb.

      The climber trains for the competition every day.

      However, sometimes things move around! In some cases the subject can also come immediately after the verb, and in subordinate clauses, the verb gets kicked to the end of a sentence, so the rule above will only help in the simplest cases! Check out our introduction to German word order for more complete word order rules.

    • Ask the right questions

      Ask the question Wer?(Who?) to identify who or what is performing the action in a sentence — that will be the subject.

      This will also be the element of the sentence that is in the nominative case, so another way to look for the subject is to find the nominative article or pronoun that is in the nominative case.

      subject (nominative)

      Maja geht samstags klettern. → Wer geht samstags klettern? → Maja!

      Maja goes climbing on Saturdays. → Who goes climbing on Saturdays? → Maja!

      Die Kletterlehrerin ist neu. → Wer ist neu? → Die Kletterlehrerin!

      The climbing teacher is new. → Who is new? → The climbing teacher!

      Er macht Fortschritte. → Wer macht Fortschritte? → Er!

      He is making progress. → Who is making progress? → He (is)!

    • Don’t fret if the subject is not clear!

      The subject of a German sentence isn’t always crystal clear and it’s not always a noun! It can also be an infinitive clause or a subordinate clause (aka Subjektsatz). Some examples for those are:

      subject

      Wer nicht hören will, muss fühlen.

      If you don't want to listen, find out the hard way.

      lit. Who(ever) will not hear must feel.

      Dass du neue Freunde gefunden hast, freut uns sehr.

      That you found new friends is making us very happy.

    Summary

    Here are the most important things to remember about conjugating verbs in German:

    • German verbs follow three main patterns: strong, weak, and mixed. Weak verbs are “regular,” while strong verbs are “irregular.” Mixed verbs take regular endings, but still have some irregularities in them.

    • German verbs agree with the subject of the sentence.

    • Here are some of the main German tenses, with some examples:

      Strong Verb
      Weak Verb
      Infinitive
      singen(to sing)
      lernen(to learn)
      Simple Present
      er singt
      er lernt
      Simple Past
      er sang
      er lernte
      Perfect Tense
      er hat gesungen
      er hat gelernt
      Past Perfect
      er hatte gesungen
      er hatte gelernt
      Future Tense
      er wird singen
      er wird lernen
      Future Perfect
      er wird gesungen haben
      er wird gelernt haben

    • German verbs may also occur in other forms like the Subjunctive I, Subjunctive II, passive voice, etc.

    And now it’s time to practice what you’ve learned. Head over to our activities and test your knowledge on verb conjugations in German!

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