Weak verbs - infinitives
Here are the infinitives of some weak verbs.
- spielen – to play
- kaufen – to buy
- besuchen – to visit
Examples in use
Question
How would you write out the verb spielen (to play) in the present tense?
stem: spiel-
- ich spiele – I play
- du spielst – you play
- er spielt – he plays
- sie spielt – she plays
- es spielt – it plays
- wir spielen – we play
- ihr spielt – you play
- Sie spielen – you play
- sie spielen – they play
Question
How would you write out the verb kaufen (to buy) in the present tense?
stem: kauf-
- ich kaufe – I buy
- du kaufst – you buy
- er kauft – he buys
- sie kauft – she buys
- es kauft – it buys
- wir kaufen – we buy
- ihr kauft – you buy
- Sie kaufen – you buy
- sie kaufen – they buy
Question
How would you write out the verb besuchen (to visit) in the present tense?
stem: besuch-
- ich besuche – I visit
- du besuchst – you visit
- er besucht – he visits
- sie besucht – she visits
- es besucht – it visits
- wir besuchen – we visit
- ihr besucht – you visit
- Sie besuchen – you visit
- sie besuchen – they visit
Weak verbs with a difference
There is a group of slightly different weak verbs, eg
- finden – to find
- arbeiten – to work
- warten – to wait
- erwarten – to expect
- erfinden – to invent
- when you take off the -en, you'll see that the stems of these particular verbs end either in the letter -d or -t
- you add the usual weak endings to most of the verb
- however, when you add the usual endings to the du, er/sie/es and ihr forms, they are not very clear, and therefore incorrect, eg er findt or sie wartt
- to make them clearer, and easier to pronounce, you have to add -e- between the stem and the ending for the du, er/sie/es and ihr forms only, eg er findet or sie wartet
Do it like this:
This rule applies to all verbs whose stem ends in -d or -t.
- finden – to find
stem: find-
- ich finde – I find
- du findest – you find
- er findet – he finds
- sie findet – she finds
- es findet – it finds
- wir finden – we find
- ihr findet – you find
- Sie finden – you find
- sie finden – they find
Question
So how would you say the following in German?
- he works
- you wait (singular)
- she invents
- you expect (plural, friendly)
- er arbeitet
- du wartest
- sie erfindet
- ihr erwartet