German verbs
The verb carries most of what a sentence does: who, when, whether it is done or still going on. Here you will find the grammar around it, the verbs that do not follow the rules, and practice.
Where to go from here
How a verb changes its form is covered by the grammar topics below. When to use which form is the question of the tenses, and that has a page of its own. The verbs you simply have to know one by one have one too.
The 22 grammar topics around the verb
Each with an explanation, a form table, example sentences and exercises of its own.
A1Perfect tense (Perfekt)haben or sein plus a participle at the end — and it is how Germans talk about yesterday.B1Simple past (Präteritum)The past tense of books and reports — plus a handful of verbs that use it in speech.A2The futureGerman usually says the future in the present tense, and keeps werden for prediction and emphasis.B1Past perfect (Plusquamperfekt)hatte or war plus a participle — for what had already happened when something else did.A2What the present tense coversNow, always, tomorrow and since when — all of it in one form.A2haben or sein in the perfectMost verbs take haben; motion and change of state take sein, and a direct object always means haben.A2Saying when: seit, vor, in, fürFour prepositions of time whose English equivalents cross over, plus the tense German uses with each.A2Building the past participleThree patterns, two cases without ge-, and one where it moves inside.B2Future perfect (Futur II)Rarely a future tense; almost always a guess about something already over.A1The six modal verbsOne irregular pattern, six verbs, and the main verb waiting at the end of the sentence.A2nicht müssen vs. nicht dürfenThe one place where a negation flips the meaning — and German and English flip it differently.B2Modal verbs for guessesThe same six verbs used a second time — not about what is possible, but about how likely the speaker thinks it is.B2Modals in the pastTwo infinitives at the end of the clause — correct, awkward, and usually replaced by the simple past.A1mögen and möchtenOne verb for liking something, another form of it for wanting something — and they are not interchangeable.A2sollen: orders and hearsayAn obligation that comes from another person, and a second use that reports what people say.B1Modals with no second verbGerman lets a modal stand on its own when the missing verb is obvious.B1Passive with werdenThe process, not the result — and the agent usually left out on purpose.B2Avoiding the passiveThree constructions German reaches for instead — and one of them is what a spoken sentence usually uses.B2Passive with seinsein plus a participle describes how things are — and English writes it the same way as the other one.B2The passive in every tensewerden carries the tense, the participle never changes, and the perfect uses worden rather than geworden.B2Naming who did it: von and durchA passive usually names nobody; when it does, a person takes von and a cause takes durch.B2Impersonal passive: es wirdGerman can build a passive out of a verb with no object at all — and English cannot.
Practise 2281 verbs
The verbs from the core vocabulary, across all the topic lists.