German has 170 irregular verbs compared to English's 283. Regular German verbs follow a consistent pattern of stem + ending, while irregular verbs have varying patterns such as umlaut changes or vowel changes in the du and er/sie/es forms. Some irregular verbs like haben, sein, and wissen appear to have no rules. The wir, sie, Sie forms are always the infinitive, except for sein, while the ihr form is the infinitive minus -en plus -t. Irregular verbs can be identified by checking a dictionary.

1. Weak (regular) and strong (irregular) Germanverbs: a summaryDid you know…German has 170 irregular verbs.English has 283! Count yourself lucky being a native English speaker 

2. Recap of regular German verb rules:stem + regular verb endingverbs ending in –den (finden) or –ten (antworten) just drop the ‘n’ in the du, er/sie/es & ihr forms so that they are easier to pronounce:erfindet, ihrantwortet, du findestIrregular verbs:1. some add an umlautin the du & er/sie/esforms, like:fahren, fallen, fangen, laufen, schlafen, tragen, waschen.Examples:fahrendu fährstlaufensieläuftschlafenschläfst

3. Some verbs change their vowel in the du & er/sie/es forms, like:helfen(to help) hilfst, hilftlesen(to read) liest, liestgeben(to give) gibst, gibtsprechen(to speak) sprichst, sprichtsehen(to see) siehst, siehtnehmen(to take) nimmst, nimmttreffen(to meet) triffst, trifft

4. 3.Some verbs seem to have no rules about them!haben (to have)sein (to be)wissen (to know)  ich weiß, du weißt, er/sie/es weiß

5. Note! For all verbs:the verb forms of wir (we) sie (they) Sie (you formal)are ALWAYS the same as the infinitive (the verb form you find in a dictionary) – except for sein.

6. The ihr (you plural) verb form is ALWAYS the infinitive minus the -en plus –tdenken (to think)= ihr denkttreffen (to meet) = ihr trefft laufen (to run) = ihr lauft lesen (to read) = ihr lest

7. How can you tell if a verb is regular?Check a dictionary or verb list – if it isn’t in there, it’s regular!All irregular verbs are listed in your dictionary.