5.2.0 German Conjugation - Weak Verbs


A conjugation is the change of the verb according to the subject. For this endings (suffixes) are appended to the stem of the verb. First question is What is the stem? Well, it's the root without the endings.

German verbs in basic form always have the ending -en. That means that you take away the -en and you have the stem of the verb. Then you take the right suffix to append it to the verb and you have a perfect conjugation:

  infinitive       bringen trinken sagen kaufen
  translation to bring to drink to say to buy
  stem / root bring trink sag kauf
  ich bring-e (I bring) trink-e sag-e kauf-e
  du bring-st (you bring) trink-st sag-st kauf-st
  er bring-t (he brings) trink-t sag-t kauf-t
  sie bring-t (she brings) trink-t sag-t kauf-t
  es bring-t (it brings) trink-t sag-t kauf-t
  wir bring-en (we bring) trink-en sag-en kauf-en
  ihr bring-t (you bring) trink-t sag-t kauf-t
  sie bring-en (they bring) trink-en sag-en kauf-en
   

  infinitive          bringen weinen lachen schwimmen
  translation to bring to cry to laugh to swim
  stem / root bring wein lach schwimm
  ich bring-e (I bring) wein-e lach-e schwimm-e
  du bring-st (you bring) wein-st lach-st schwimm-st
  er bring-t (he brings) wein-t lach-t schwimm-t
  sie bring-t (she brings) wein-t lach-t schwimm-t
  es bring-t (he brings) wein-t lach-t schwimm-t
  wir bring-en (we bring) wein-en lach-en schwimm-en
  ihr bring-t (you bring) wein-t lach-t schwimm-t
  sie bring-en (they bring) wein-en lach-en schwimm-en
       

Even though it might have sounded difficult you'll find it easy since there are a lot of regularities.






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