In the German language, verbs are an essential part of forming sentences and expressions. They are responsible for indicating actions, states, phenomena of nature, among others. In this chapter of our basic German e-book course, we'll cover basic German verbs, focusing on action verbs.
Action verbs are those that indicate an action performed by the subject, be it physical or mental. They are widely used in everyday life and, therefore, are essential for communication. Let's start with some basic examples:
- Gehen (to go): Ich gehe zur Schule (I go to school).
- Spielen (play): Er spielt Fußball (He plays football).
- Lesen (read): Sie liest ein Buch (She reads a book).
German verbs have an interesting characteristic, which is the separation of the prefix in certain sentence constructions. For example, the verb 'aufstehen' (to get up), in a present tense sentence, can be used like this: 'Ich stehe um 7 Uhr auf' (I get up at 7 o'clock). Note that the 'auf' prefix has gone to the end of the sentence.
Another important feature is the conjugation of verbs. Each verb is conjugated according to the subject of the sentence, and this conjugation can vary according to the tense. For example, the verb 'sein' (ser/estar) is conjugated as follows in the present tense:
- Ich bin (I am/am)
- Du bist (You are/are)
- Er/Sie/Es ist (He/She/It is/is)
- Wir sind (We are/are)
- Ihr seid (You are/are)
- Sie/sie sind (They/They are/are)
Also, it is important to know that in German, verbs are classified into regular and irregular. Regular verbs follow a pattern in their conjugation, while irregular verbs undergo radical changes. For example, the verb 'sprechen' (to speak) is irregular and undergoes changes in its conjugation:
- Ich spreche (I speak)
- Du sprichst (You speak)
- Er/Sie/Es spricht (He/She/It speaks)
- Wir sprechen (We speak)
- Ihr sprecht (You speak)
- Sie/sie sprechen (They/They speak)
As you can see, learning the basic German verbs is essential for sentence building and everyday communication. They are the basis for expressing actions, feelings, states and much more. So, practice a lot of conjugation and usage of these verbs in different contexts to improve your German language skills.
We hope this chapter has helped you better understand basic German verbs, especially action verbs. Keep following our Basic German e-book course to learn even more about this fascinating language!
