Study Resource: List of common German irregular verbs in the simple past
Common German verbs with irregular simple past forms
Infinitive | Simple Past |
|---|---|
backen to bake | buk baked (also exists as a regular verb |
bitten to ask for | bat asked for |
bleiben to stay | blieb stayed |
empfehlen to recommend | empfahl recommended |
essen to eat | aß ate |
fahren to drive | fuhr drove |
finden to find | fand found |
fliegen to give | flog flew |
geben to give | gab gave |
gehen to go | ging went |
lassen to let | ließ let |
laufen to walk | lief walked |
lesen to read | las read |
kommen to come | kam came |
nehmen to take | nahm took |
reiten to ride | ritt rode |
schlafen to sleep | schlief slept |
schneiden to cut | schnitt cut |
schreiben to write | schrieb wrote |
schwimmen to swim | schwamm swam |
sehen to see | sah saw |
singen to sing | sang sang |
sprechen to speak | sprach spoke |
springen to jump | sprang jumped |
stehen to stand | stand stood |
stehlen to steal | stahl stole |
steigen to climb | stieg climbed |
sterben to die | starb died |
trinken trank | trank drank |
werden to become | wurde became |
ziehen to pull | zog pulled |
The verbs above also form the base of many other verbs. These derived verbs are also irregular in the same way:
verstehen
to understand
→verstand
understood
aufstehen
to get up
→stand auf
got up
Modal verbs in the simple past
Infinitive | Simple Past |
|---|---|
dürfen may, to be permitted | durfte might, was permitted |
können can, to be able to | konnte could, was able to |
mögen to like | mochte liked |
müssen must, to have to | musste had to |
wollen to want | wollte wanted |
sollen shall, to be supposed to | sollte should, was supposed to |
Common mixed-class verbs in the simple past
Infinitive | Simple Past |
|---|---|
bringen to bring | brachte brought |
denken to think | dachte thought |
rennen to run | rannte ran |
nennen to name | nannte named |
kennen to be acquainted with | kannte was acquainted with |
wissen to know | wusste knew |
Did you notice something? The simple past forms of bringen(to bring) and denken(to think) rhyme in both German and English! And rennen, nennen, and kennen all rhyme in German too! That makes them easier to remember, don’t you think?
List of German verbs that typically appear in the simple past, rather than the perfect tense
The verbs below are almost always used in the simple past and not in the perfect tense. There’s a reason though: these verbs belong to a more literary register and are not typical in spoken language. Other than scheinen, these verbs are all regular verbs.
scheinen
to seem
stammen
to originate
schwanen
to have a premonition
drohen zu
to threaten to
pflegen zu
to be used to,
to be accustomed to
