What are irregular verbs?
Irregular verbs, also called "strong verbs", are a small group in terms of numbers. Yet many of the roughly 200 strong verbs belong to the core vocabulary. When you conjugate them, the vowel in the verb stem changes. In the Präsens, this only affects the 2nd and 3rd person singular. The plural is conjugated like regular verbs.
Exception: wissen. Here "ich" is also irregular: ich weiß, du weißt, er weiß.
Vowel change: e → i
In these verbs, the e in the stem changes to i.
More verbs: brechen, helfen, nehmen, vergessen, werfen, treffen, sterben, treten
Vowel change: e → ie
In these verbs, the e changes to ie. The pronunciation becomes longer.
More verbs: sehen, befehlen. Note: "geschehen" only works in the 3rd person singular: es geschieht
Vowel change: a → ä
The a in the stem gets an umlaut and becomes ä.
More verbs: backen, blasen, fahren, graben, halten, laden, schlafen, schlagen, tragen, waschen
Vowel change: au → äu
This small group has only two common verbs, both easy to remember.
Verbs with prefixes work the same way
When a strong verb gets a prefix, the vowel change stays, whether the verb is separable or inseparable.
Exercises
Three short tasks: fill in a conjugation table, gap fill, multiple choice.
Conjugation: all 6 forms
Conjugate the three verbs through all 6 persons.
Conjugate the verb in brackets
Put in the correct form. Watch out for the vowel change!
Which form is correct?
Choose the correct conjugated form.