I’m going to show you a trick for conceptualising irregular verbs in German. Once you see it you’ll never think of irregular verbs in the same way again.
As I’m sure you are aware, German and English share a common ancestor. Between around 400 and 700 AD the Anglo-Saxons settled in Great Britain, bringing their language with them. Over the next centuries, what we now know as English began absorbing vocabulary from Latin, French, and later other languages, eventually becoming its own distinct language.
But the core of English is still very much Germanic. All of the basic grammar and vocabulary is German. This is obvious when you compare many of the most basic words.
Apfel apple blau blue Buch book finden to find Finger finger grün green Haar hair lernen to learn Milch milk oft often sehen to see trinken to drink Wasser water
It’s beautiful isn’t it!
But onto the hack. It was around the time when I started to really compare English and German. Whenever I learned a new German word I would ask myself whether English had an equivalent, and it often did. I began to notice that this pattern also applied to verbs. Both languages share the same irregular verbs!! Well, not exactly the same, but there was a huge amount of overlap.
Take a look at this list of the most common irregular German verbs, compared to their English counterparts. You will notice that the forms match up very closely.
You’ll notice that the change always involved the root vowel. Usually they change in a sort of I/A/U pattern like in drink/drank/drunk and swim/swam/swum. Often they change in the same way in German as well (e.g. trinken/trank/getrunken).
They also often change in a kind of E/O/-EN way like in freeze/froze/frozen or speak/speak/spoken. There aren’t exactly rules but English often gives you clues. Usually if a past participle ends in -EN in German, it will end in -EN in English as well. E.g. genommen/taken, gefahren/driven, gesehen/seen, gefallen/fallen.
Irregular German verbs and their English counterparts
| beginnen | begann | begonnen |
| begin | began | begun |
| brechen | brach | gebrochen |
| break | broke | broken |
| bringen | brachte | gebracht |
| bring | brought | brought |
| fallen | fiel | gefallen |
| fall | fell | fallen |
| finden | fand | gefunden |
| find | found | found |
| fliegen | flog | geflogen |
| fly | flew | flown |
| frieren | fror | gefroren |
| freeze | froze | frozen |
| geben | gab | gegeben |
| give | gave | given |
| gehen | ging | gegangen |
| go | went | gone |
| gewinnen | gewann | gewonnen |
| win | won | won |
| haben | hatte | gehabt |
| have | had | had |
| halten | hielt | gehalten |
| hold | held | held |
| kommen | kam | gekommen |
| come | came | come |
| lassen | ließ | gelassen |
| let | let | let |
| liegen | lag | gelegen |
| lie | lay | lain |
| reiten | ritt | geritten |
| ride | rode | ridden |
| schießen | schoss | geschossen |
| shoot | shot | shot |
| schwimmen | schwamm | geschwommen |
| swim | swam | swum |
| sehen | sah | gesehen |
| see | saw | seen |
| sinken | sank | gesunken |
| sink | sank | sunk |
| sitzen | saß | gesessen |
| sit | sat | sat |
| sprechen | sprach | gesprochen |
| speak | spoke | spoken |
| stehen | stand | gestanden |
| stand | stood | stood |
| stehlen | stahl | gestohlen |
| steal | stole | stolen |
| trinken | trank | getrunken |
| drink | drank | drunk |
| vergessen | vergaß | vergessen |
| forget | forgot | forgotten |
Now I’m not saying you should use this to guess the forms you don’t know – don’t do that! But it’s helpful to keep this in mind when encountering irregular verbs. It’s useful to quickly consult English for any clues that might help you remember them.
I also found this to be conceptually very helpful, and it made understanding different tenses and verb forms feel more natural, which is ultimately the feeling you are aiming for if fluency is your goal.