Modern German Grammar: A Practical Guide, Second Edition

33.6 Mixed verbs

There are a few so-called ‘mixed’ verbs which combine features of the weak and the

strong patterns by adding the regular endings to a changed vowel stem in the simple

past. The most common ‘mixed’ verbs are:

(a) In the present tense these verbs are entirely regular except for wissen, which has an

irregular pattern (see 33.7a).

(b) In the simple past the regular weak endings are added to the simple past stem.

Thus, present tense forms include ich bringe, du denkst, es brennt, etc., and simple

past forms include ich kannte, du nanntest, er rannte, etc.

(c) The perfect and pluperfect tenses of mixed verbs are formed with the past participle,

and this is formed by adding ge- to the beginning of the simple past stem and -t to

the end.

The forms are:

The finite verb (5.1) in these tenses is not always a form of haben (see 33.8).

33.7 Irregular verbs

Irregular verbs (see 33.2d) fall into several different categories, but they share one basic

feature: they have an irregular pattern in the present tense. In addition, most irregular

verbs are strong verbs. These are very common verbs and are part of the basic

vocabulary of all speakers of German. A special effort needs to be made to learn them.

(a) The verbs sein ‘to be’, werden ‘to become’, wissen ‘to know’, haben ‘to have’ take

the following forms:

Infinitive Simple past stem

bringen brachte ‘to bring’ (see 80.7d)

denken dachte ‘to think’

brennen brannte ‘to burn’

kennen kannte ‘to know’ (a person or place) (see 101.1)

nennen nannte ‘to name/call’

rennen rannte ‘to race’

wissen wusste ‘to know’ (a piece of information) (see 101.1)

Infinitive Simple past stem Perfect tense

bringen brachte ich habe gebracht (see 80.7d)

denken dachte ich habe gedacht

brennen brannte ich habe gebrannt

kennen kannte ich habe gekannt

nennen nannte ich habe genannt

rennen rannte ich bin gerannt

wissen wusste ich habe gewusst

33

VERBS