75 Most Common German Verbs
75 Most Common German Verbs
75 Most Common German Verbs
Know!]
emmalovesgerman.com/useful-german-verbs/
By Emma
In this post I’m going to give you a list of the 75 most common German verbs. Aiming to
learn as many of the most common German verbs will enable you to manage many
everyday situations, while not having to worry about less common verbs that you are less
likely to use.
You will also learn about what verbs are and how to use them correctly in a sentence.
Imagine these sentences with the verbs removed. You wouldn’t get the whole picture if
someone said ‘we to Germany soon’.
Top tip: As a general rule, if you can put ‘I’, ‘he/she/it’ or ‘we’ in front of a word, that
word is a verb.
Position 1 Position 2
(Subject) (Verb) The Rest
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If there is more than one verb in a sentence, the conjugated verb goes in position 2. The
other, unconjugated verb goes to the end.
For asking questions, the structure is almost the same as English, the verb moves to
position 1. If there is a second, unconjugated verb, that goes to the end.
The modal verb changes the meaning of the sentence depending on which modal verb is
used. In German there are 6 modal verbs:
The modal verb is conjugated and in position 2, and the other infinitive verb goes to the
end.
The modal verb changes the intention of the other verb. Let’s use the verb gehen as an
example:
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Ich möchte in den Park gehen
(I would like to go to the park)
Ich kann in den Park gehen
(I can go to the park)
Darf ich in den Park gehen?
(May I go to the park?)
Soll ich in den Park gehen?
(Should I got to the park?)
Ich will in den Park gehen
(I want to go to the park)
Ich muss in den Park gehen
(I must go to the park)
You can see that we use the same verb gehen, but in changing the modal verb, the whole
meaning of the sentence changes.
The list may seem intimidating, but don’t feel that you need to learn them all at once.
Think about the conversations you like to have and what your interests are. Some verbs
you will use all the time, others you will struggle to recall when you need them. But the
important thing is that you start to realise which verbs you need for your own situation.
With all that said, here is my list of the most common German verbs:
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Verb (infinitive) Meaning
mögen like
sollen should
brauchen to need
finden to find
denken to think
glauben to believe
wissen to know
haben to have
sein to be
essen to eat
trinken to drink
helfen to help
kommen to come
fliegen to fly
lesen to read
schauen to look
schlafen to sleep
bleiben to stay
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Verb (infinitive) Meaning
hoffen to hope
reisen to travel
arbeiten to work
spielen to play
bringen to bring
bekommen to get
treffen to meet
machen to do / make
laufen to run
joggen to jog
sitzen to sit
stehen to stand
beginnen to begin
starten to start
anfangen to commence
aufhören to stop
leben to live
ankommen to arrive
abfahren to depart
nehmen to take
geben to give
sprechen to speak
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Verb (infinitive) Meaning
sagen to say
reden to talk
chatten to chat
fragen to ask
lernen to learn
verstehen to understand
erklären to explain
erzählen to tell
versuchen to try
bezahlen to pay
schreiben to write
kaufen to buy
verkaufen to sell
schicken to send
gewinnen to win
verlieren to lose
verspechen to promise
lügen to lie
So now you know the most common German verbs that you can use in everyday
situations and how to correctly use them in a sentence.
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