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Better German Podcast with Susi

Susanne Schilk-BlĂŒmel
Since 09/2023 52 episodes

52 German Irregular Verbs Super Easy

2025-12-04 36 min

Description & Show Notes

This episode makes German verbs that change their form (irregular verbs / starke Verben) super easy.

There is a free PDF to follow along (and practice further). đŸ“„ Download Part 2 of the FREE German Verbs Guide: https://bettergerman.info/verbs2 

Susi shows that German grammar doesn’t have to be complicated and teaches a simple, structured method for learning verbs like fahren (to drive) and sprechen (to speak). By focusing on groups and easy vowel changes (like “a → Ă€â€ or “e → i”), you’ll learn faster and speak German more fluently.

Want to actually learn German? For a very short time there is a one time only 50% discount for the Better German Course available. Limited spots, only until the 7th of December! More info here: đŸ”„ Pre-Sale Now Open: Get Talking — German for Beginners and Restarters


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Summary
Get the FREE Verbs Guide Part 2: You can download the PDF with all the simple verb groups and practice activities from this episode here: https://bettergerman.info/verbs2

In this episode, Susi shares her proven method for mastering these verbs without stress. You’ll discover patterns and groups — like how “a” changes to â€œĂ€â€ in some words — so they stop feeling like tricky exceptions. Focus on the most common verbs for daily conversation and start speaking German more confidently and naturally. 

Listen until the end for a small preview of Episode 53, where you will learn useful German words for talking about food at a restaurant!

Key Topics 🔎 German Irregular Verbs
  • Learning the Easy Way: Why German verbs are simpler than many books make them seem.
  • How Many Verbs to Learn?: The small number of verbs you truly need for daily German conversations.
  • Find the Groups: A simple method for grouping verbs to learn them faster.
  • Easy Vowel Changes: Understanding the small but important changes like ‘a’ to â€˜Ă€' and 'e’ to ‘i’.
  • Speak Now: Why the present tense is the most important tense to start with.
  • Practical Use: Focus only on the grammar you need for speaking, not complicated rules.
  • Practice Time: Pronunciation and verb change practice for verbs like fahren and sprechen.
  • Free Verbs PDF Guide Part 2 for this episode to follow along and practice.
  • What's Next: A preview of the next episode's useful restaurant vocabulary.
Mentioned Episodes (all episodes can be found at bettergerman.info/# of the episode)

Ep 45: Learn German Verbs The Easy Way (Going over the Regular Forms) 

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Transcript

"To drive" —"fahren," "fahren." By the way, this is a little different than in German in the sense in English You drive a car, meaning you are the operator of the vehicle. In German, "fahren" means you are using that. You go somewhere by car no matter if you are the operator or not. Welcome to the Better German podcast. I am Susi BlĂŒmel, a German teacher and founder of Better German. This podcast helps to learn German in a simple and clear way. With useful words, clear sentence structures, pronunciation, and real life topics from daily life and culture. You'll also get tips for learning German and understanding how the language actually works. And when you're ready, we have a free community and courses to support you even more. Hello! Welcome to this episode of the Better German podcast. So the episode is called "German Irregular Verb, Super Easy." So now when you listen to this podcast, either you haven't really started learning German a lot, or you're just starting out and followed me through the podcast and maybe some other tools. Or it could be that you have already tried to learn German and either it's a long time ago or maybe you have been frustrated with a few things or a combination of all of these things. So, let me start by telling those, particularly those of you or you, if you have ever encountered any of this German grammar about verbs can be or can sound very complicated. And it's actually not. That's the good news. I have spent a lot of time and research and effort sometimes, it doesn't have to be super complicated. It's actually a funny story. The first time I really looked at this, other than when I was in school, I remember maybe 20 years ago, I was, I was studying and I was trying to figure out actually something that was a note in the dictionary. I looked in a German German dictionary and cleared something up and there was an abbreviation and I cleared it and it said "Starkes Verb" which is literally translated strong verb," and then I went down the rabbit hole because I don't like superficial explanations. And this one's a toughie because different grammar books, different dictionaries, define these differently. So I have managed to clear it up, but I'm telling you, it took me a few hours literally, and I speak German and I already knew grammar well at that point actually. There was just details that I didn't understand here, and when I later looked at how to teach this to, you, I realized, that this has been made completely irrationally complicated by many books, not by everybody, but in many books, this is very complicated, and now I'm going to tell you the simple truth. First of all, German, like every language that I know, English I know best, but also French and so on has regular and irregular verbs. So regular verbs follow the same pattern. It's always the same, and it's relatively easy to learn. Yes, there are a few more changes between, German has a few more changes than English. In English, for example, I say, "I walk, you walk, he walks," and that's kind of the entirety of the change here. In German I have, instead of two forms, I have four forms. Yay, okay. So that doesn't warrant to be super. difficult. It's four forms instead of two, and you can learn it, you can figure it out, it's fine. And then aside from the regular verbs, there are verbs that are obviously not regular. However, in many grammar books, these have various names, and that makes things very, very complicated, and that is completely not necessary and you don't have to worry about this. So for all intents and purposes, and in all of my courses and in anything that I ever publish, there are regular verbs and then there are irregular, or verbs that are not regular, however you want to call it. In German, by the way, this is "regelmĂ€ĂŸige Verben." Sorry, "regelmĂ€ĂŸige" is a little longer than regular, but what it means literally is "regel, mĂ€ĂŸige" like it's following a rule. So that's "regelmĂ€ĂŸige und unregelmĂ€ĂŸige" that it's not following a rule. Good. So that's that, that's the entirety. And in the course when you really want to learn speaking German, for example in my upcoming, "Get Talking: German for Beginners and Restarters" course, we really just learn what you need to speak. I mean, yes, you learn obviously reading and writing and speaking and understanding, but we are focusing on the things that you need so when you meet somebody else who speaks German, so you can talk with them. The good news is you don't need all that many different verbs. So there is like, I think about 60 or 70 verbs in total. That's all there is, and most of them are completely regular. Completely, completely, completely. And then there is two categories that still follow a rule. It's not regular, but they have a different rule that we're going to look at now. This is what this episode is actually what we are mainly learning. And then there is less than 10, less than 10, that are completely different and we just learn them separately. Like "haben" in German "to have," and" have" is also irregular in English. There is a little more to say in German, but it's not super complicated. It's, a few others, "sein"— "to be," yes, we learn it separately, but also words like "mögen"— "to like," "Can." In German "können," and the good thing is these are each their own lesson and you learn a whole bunch of things that you can say with that, and it's super easy that way. So it's not complicated. Don't worry about it at all. Okay, so let's continue. What are we going to do in this episode? In this episode, we're still only dealing with present. In English we say present tense. In German, we just say "PrĂ€sens" or "Gegenwart" which is present. We don't need the "tense" in this case. This is where we start. This is what a lot of the communication is. By the way, in German, we are using the present tense even more often than in English actually. Another piece of good news is in German you really need only two tenses to cover most of the speaking. So, I don't know. Sometimes people say, "German grammar is so difficult." Yes, there are a few things that can be tricky. The the whole tense thing is actually more easy once you figure out, how these work, it's actually quite simple because in English, in order to really communicate, you need quite a lot of things. You need to know, "I walk" versus "I'm walking" and "I have been walking" and "I will walk," "I will be walking" and "I walked," "I was walking." So that's four times two, that's eight tenses that are used in everyday English all the time. There is, "I had been walking" and and "I will have been walking" as well. Okay, fine, these are not used all the time by everyone, but these others I just said these are eight lenses that are used in English all the time, and, let me tell you, this is a little tricky for students that are learning English as a second language or as a foreign language. In German, we just need for most everyday conversation two tenses. We have more. Don't worry. We have present, past future. We have two different past tenses, but for spoken communication, you'd really just need one and this is what we're focusing on in the beginning. And once this one, these two actually work for you and you can use them, we will start adding more, but not before that. That makes things much easier. And you don't really have to have them, you don't need to worry about them. Good. Maybe if, if you have learned German in the past and you were in a grammar-focused course. If you weren't, then you can skip ahead like two minutes or just listen to it if you like it. Maybe you, it'll be interesting if you listen to grammar later or learn grammar later. It can be that you've tried to understand this and this was very complicated, and maybe you have heard all sorts of terms. The real thing is the classical grammar mixes five different systems, and most of them, they were made not by someone who sat down and was like, "Okay, good. How can, am I going to teach this to kids or to people who want to learn German?" But they were done by German language professors that studied the German language and the development of the German language and there is nothing wrong with that, this is very interesting. Then they were describing what they find, but I'm telling you, this is for you, if you want to learn German, about as useful as if you sort your books, by color only. So they were like, "Okay, good. This looks like this and this looks like this and this looks like this." But they weren't thinking of how can we use this and how can we teach this to someone so he can actually speak? So this, is why this is sometimes very complicated, and it doesn't help. It makes learning very difficult. So to learn the present, which is what we're doing, is you just need two things. One is everything stays the same. We covered this in episode 45. If you haven't listened to episode 45 then go there and, listen to it first probably. And then we have a second category of verbs, and these are the ones that we're going through, and all they do is they change sometimes a few vowels. There's a few vowel changes. So I'm giving you an example. I'm skipping ahead. So the verb "fahren," that is "To drive" is like "ich fahre," "I drive." And "You drive" is "du fĂ€hrst." So instead of an, "a", I have an umlaut, "Ă€", an "Ă€." By the way, speaking of umlauts and things that are written up and stuff like that, there is a PDF that goes with this episode. I'm going to show it to you and this is how it looks, and it's called "German Verbs Made Easy: Learn, Practice, Speak Part Two." You can download it. It's linked in the show notes, but you can also go to bettergerman.info/verbs2, like no space or anything bettergerman.info/verbs2. I'm going to link it The PDF, it will give you all the verbs that we covered today, and, a nice overview so you can see how it works and practice for every single one of those, including like the verbs, but also some sentences. And then there is the trick, how you remember this or how you learn this is you look at the verb and then you look at the form that is for "du," and then you will know exactly how to do it, after this podcast episode, and then you can do it. So let's look at the first of these verbs for today. Let's go through the basic meaning first, one time, and not even spending any attention or putting any attention on the verb. So I'll say it in English first and then I'll say it in German. Repeat after me if you can. Not necessarily when you are talking to someone. But then you won't be listening to me, but if you can speak out loud and proud. So, "To drive" —"fahren," "fahren." By the way, this is a little different than in German in the sense in English you drive a car, meaning you are the operator of the vehicle. In German, "fahren" means you are using that. You go somewhere by car no matter if you are the operator or not. So if I am, going to Munich, I'm in Vienna. Munich is about, four-hour drive by car away, or five-hour, or something like that, and then I would say, " ich fahre mit dem Auto." And that "Ich fahre mit dem Auto," would be, "I'm driving with the car" or "Drive with the car." So "Ich fahre mit dem Auto," means "I'm going there by car," and it doesn't actually really say if I am the driver or somebody else, but that's the word. " To drive," —"Fahren" "To sleep," —" Schlafen" "Schlafen" "To run" —" Laufen" " Laufen" Full Disclosure. So I live in Austria, this is like at let's say more or less at the south of Germany, and in Austria. When we say "laufen," we really mean "to run," like, to move fast, not walk, but run. So in, Germany, in many areas, in colloquial German people will say. "Laufen" for walking. So instead of driving, "Laufen wir" "Laufen wir Zum Hotel," "Let's walk to the hotel" in that case, okay. "To eat" —"Essen Essen." I thought that was important, so I included it. "To speak." —" Sprechen" "Sprechen" "To see" —" Sehn" oder (or) "Sehen" Like all the -en at the end of the verbs, sometimes they're pronounced more clearly, sometimes less. It's really, it's not even a dialect thing, it's how you feel. " Sehen oder(or) Sehn" Both are good. One more time. I'll say you repeat it "To drive" —"Fahren"Fahrenar "To sleep," —"Schlafen" " Schlafen" "To run" —"Laufen" "Laufen" "To eat." —" Essen " Essen" "To speak" —" Sprechen" " Sprechen" "To see" —"Sehn" "Sehn" Good. So now we have two categories of verbs here. The first ones, the first three here all, have an "a." They have an "a" or "au," but still there's an "a." And all of this have a change. So first they're like, okay, so if you're not sure, I'm going to show you. Okay, good. So you have to bear with me. I had to change the camera setting, so it's now mirrored, So, let me just very quickly remind you. This is, what we had for regular verbs. So now we want to go. and now we have the next one. So as I said, we have two categories. Now I took this for our "ah", category. So we have "Fahren." I think " Schlafen" and "Laufen" in there, and these all have "ah," and now what we have is the following thing. So repeat after me. "Ich fahre" " Du fĂ€hrst" " er fĂ€hrt" " Wir fahren" " Ihr fahrt" " Sie fahren" With English one time, 'I drive" —"Ich fahre" like "I drive a car." "You drive" —"du fĂ€hrst " "He drives," —" Zr fĂ€hrt." Then, "We drive" —"Wir fahren." Then "you," and this is the difference between this, "you" and this, "you," I'm going into this more in other episodes, I'm going to link them. There is one about the "I, you, he, she, it," words also called pronouns, and I believe also, I'm going into this in the, first part of the verbs. So episode 45, the regular verbs. And probably also when when we go over "To be" "I am," "You are." " ich bin, du bist." Anyway, to summarize it, "You drive" here is talking to one person. So you talk to your best friend and you say something like, "You drive very well," "Du fĂ€hrst sehr gut" And this "You" is, you talk to someone, but it's more than one person. So you talk to your friends or to your family, and you said "You drive on Monday." Like "All of you guys," "You go home by car on Monday." " You drive on Monday." " Ihr fahrt am Montag" You're going to get used to it. It's normal that in the beginning you get a little, "Huh? Wait, what?" because it's not something you're familiar with it. Like "we" is easier to translate in your head. Don't worry. Give yourself time. After using it a couple of times, this becomes normal. "They drive" —"Sie fahren" And now of course as you see, the difference is the "ah (a)" to "eh (Ă€)." So another thing, it is possible if you have just started out or if you're just starting out, this thing between "ah (a)" and "eh (Ă€)," doesn't sound very much different and it's a little hard to say, just keep going. Ideally, you watch a lot of videos where native speakers say it. You can watch my videos. You can also listen to the podcast. I've just seen it with a new group that I just started, less than two months ago. I think it's five weeks or six weeks ago. And, at the very beginning of every course, we go through the alphabet and we go through this, also this letter, this is called an "umlaut, a" or we very often just refer to it by "eh (Ă€)," which is the pronunciation. In the beginning, almost all students are like stumbling and they're not so sure about it, and I just noticed the other day that they have absolutely no problem with this now, whatsoever. So you'll get used to it. Good. Let's go through it one more time, Ich fahre" “du fĂ€hrst” “er fĂ€hrt” “wir fahren” “ihr fahrt” “sie fahren” So it's pretty simple. The only difference really is this "umlaut" thing, and we only have it for "du" and for "er/sie/es" or like, whenever we talk about another person or thing, like "er fĂ€hrt" —" he drives" "Peter fĂ€hrt", —"Peter drives" Maria fĂ€hrt". —"Maria drives," of course "My mother drives." —"Sie fĂ€hrt" "Meine Mutter fĂ€hrt" So that's when we use this one. Good. And we use the exact same forms or same concept for "schlafen." So that would be “ich schlafe” “du schlĂ€fst” “er schlĂ€ft” Oh, "schlafen" of course, one more time, is "to sleep." So "I sleep" —“Ich schlafe” "You sleep" —“Du schlĂ€fst”. "He sleeps." —“Er schlĂ€ft” "We sleep" —“Wir schlafen” "You sleep." — “Ihr schlaft”. "They sleep" — “Sie schlafen” Very good. All right, so I'm leaving this one because this is the best overview still. we have one more and that is "Laufen" —"To run." So it's the same principle, and here for those two and "a" becomes an "Ă€". So, except that we have an "au" "Laufen", and this becomes "lĂ€ufst". But yeah, you'll see it in the PDF. I'm going to put the, the words there. Good! So "Laufen" I'll say it. You repeat it "To run "Laufen" "I run" "Ich laufe" "You run" "Du lĂ€ufst.”. "He runs" " Er lĂ€uft." "We run" "Wir laufen." "You run" "Ihr lauft." "They run" "Sie laufen." Good. All right, and now we have one other category, and there the "e," the German "e," the "starke e", which is the "e" in English, "e" becomes an "i." So English "e" becomes "i" In German we see "e". wird zu (becomes) "i" (ee) Good. So repeat after me, "To speak," — “Sprechen” "I speak." — "Ich spreche" "You speak." — “Du sprichst” "He speaks." — “Er spricht” " "We speak." —“Wir sprechen” "You speak." — “Ihr sprecht” Und (and) "They speak." — “Sie sprechen” By the way, I have to admit, I've said something before that wasn't quite true. So for the irregular verbs, you actually have five different forms. Because these two, like "wir", and "they (sie)" are always like the basic form. By the way, don't get confused with "sie". So here it's, "they" we're speaking of several people, and it's "sie", Of course "sie" in the singular, like one woman, is would be here, "sie spricht" There is a, separate episode, the episode 49 of the Better German podcast, where I'm talking about the small words, "sie" and why small words are important and how not to get confused with them. Good. And now we're going to finish the two last words. Very fast. I'm going to say it. I'm leaving this on as an overview, but it's not these words. So you'll see them in the subtitles though. " Essen" —"to Eat," " Essen" "I eat." “—Ich esse” "You eat." —“Du isst” He" eats" —"Er isst“. "We eat" —“Wir essen” " You eat" —“Ihr esst”. "They eat" —“Sie essen” Okay. I just wanted to show you very quickly, this is the PDF. So, I invite you to get it. You have the verbs here. You have some prompts of what to do to practice. You have the overviews I showed to you, if you're watching the video, if not, then this is anyway, not, not very visual. Then you have overviews, beautiful overviews that will make it visible for you immediately how to do it. You can also watch it on YouTube. By the way, I have started to record most of the episodes, with video, so if you like seeing me and occasionally the things that I show, then you can go to YouTube. At the point of this recording, I am not yet at the point that I upload them at the very same time, but they will come there eventually. Good. Then you have, this, if you can see it. If not, you have a place and instructions how to practice the forms for each of the verbs we went through. More instructions, how to practice them so you can really use them in the future. And then a couple of written sentences for you to write. So this is the episode. The next episode, is going to be about a restaurant, not a restaurant, but it's going to be words and a couple of sentences, that you can use when you go into a restaurant. So things like, dessert and stuff like that in German. And we're going to cover a few typical words, actually, we're going to cover a few typical meals in Austria as well. Anyway, so I hope you like the episode. If you like my content, there's two things I would like you to do. Please subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already, and if you like it, then leave me a review. It would mean the world to me. I really like hearing from you and tell others. Okay. See you next time. Bye-Bye.

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