1. Introduction
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Better German podcast. I am Susi Blümel, a German teacher and founder of Better German. This podcast helps to learn German in a simple and clear way. With useful words, clear sentence structures, pronunciation, and real-life topics from daily life and culture. You’ll also get tips for learning German and understanding how the language actually works. And when you’re ready, we have a free community and courses to support you even more. Today I’m going to talk to you a little bit about the changes that verbs have, depending on what people you’re talking about.
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2. What Are Verbs?
So, a verb, of course, is a word like “to walk, to sit, to eat,” words like that. It’s a part of speech, and it’s called a verb, in German “ein Verb” or “Zeit Welt” by the way, we call it a “time word.”
So in English, the change is not very dramatic, so I would say something like, “I walk,” and “you walk,” and “he/she walks,” and then “we walk, you walk, they walk.” In German, we have a little more changes, and I’m going to go through those changes with you, so you can understand the pattern. Don’t get discouraged.
[00:02:00] Sometimes students think this is super complicated. It’s not that complicated, actually. You just have to give yourself time and learn it step by step, and don’t worry about it too much in the beginning if you’re a beginner. First of all, what I’m going to tell you, there is a cheat sheet or a freebie, however you want to call it.
It’s a PDF that you can download. You can find the link to this in the show notes, and the show notes, as always, are on bettergerman.info — that’s my homepage — and then forward slash and then the number of this episode. This episode is number 45, so where you can find the show notes is bettergerman.info/45. And in there, you will find where you can download that freebie.
3. The ‘-en’ Ending: How to Recognize a Verb
[00:03:00] For this one, particularly, I really suggest you do it. It is much easier if you actually have this written up. You can recognize the pattern, I think, more easily if you have it in front of your eyes. However, what we’re going to do is, I’m going to say it in English, and then I’m going to say the German version.
First of all, the first verb that we are going to use is actually “walk,” that’s why I used it before.
So in German, to “walk” is “gehen” “gehen”
In English, if we want to talk about the verb as a verb, we usually say “to.” “To walk” like the basic form, so then we know it’s the basic form of the verb and not like “I’m taking a walk” or something like that.
In German, how we do that is the basic form of a verb, always has the same two letters at the end. Always.
[00:04:00] Every single verb in the basic form has the same two letters at the end. That is kind of a clue and helps you figure out that it’s a verb, sometimes, and these two letters are “e” and “n .” Always.
I’m going to give you a few examples.
English “to live” is German “leben “
Or English “to work” is in German, “arbeiten”
So we always have this “- en” at the end.
In order to practice that, I’m actually going to go through the verbs that we are going to work with in this episode. I’m going to say it in English, you repeat it in English, and then I’m going to tell you, at this point, just the basic form in German, and you’re going to repeat it because we have to get used to these words.
[00:05:00] So, in English, “to walk” or “to go” is “gehen”, “gehen.”
I think most people that speak English and German would probably think first when you say “Go,” but it’s really more like “walk on your feet.” Except for maybe when you say, “I am going to go to the US,” in the sense of like, “I’m going to move to the US,” then we would also say “go.”
So “to walk” sometimes “to go” — “gehen.”
And you always repeat it after me. So, if there is a silence and I haven’t said before that you should repeat it, then that means you should repeat it. So ideally do that, out loud. If you are in a car, say it out loud. If you’re in a tram, well, maybe not at this point, but then it’s probably a good idea if you can, to come back to it and listen to it later because this repeating thing is very, very, very important.
[00:06:00] Even when you learn words yourself, whatever words, that is a good idea and a step that people usually omit. Let’s say you make a list. That’s how I would learn words. If I was going to learn a foreign language today, one of the most important things is I would make lists of words like the same part of speech.
Let’s say nouns, you start with nouns. “Table blah, blah, blah,” and then you figure out how you pronounce them. German is a little bit more regular. I mean, obviously, you have to learn how to pronounce it, but once you figure it out, it is relatively easy to read a word and actually know how you say it, and then you say it, and then you say those words.
[00:07:00] Let’s say you have a list of 10, 15 words. Then you keep saying those words. You have them written up in front of you with the translation, and then you keep saying those words until you can actually say them.
That’s the first step that is usually omitted. So always repeat after me.
4. Practice: Common Regular Verbs
Good. Next word,
“To live.” — “Leben”
“To live.” — “Leben”
Next word.
“To come” — “Kommen.” “Kommen,”
And then again “to live,” but in the sense of like “have your home” in a different place or in a particular space or “how you have your home,” like “what type of home you have”, is in German a different word. This is,
“live”,”live”
[00:08:00] Just to give you a little bit more of an example, when I say,
“I live in an apartment.”
You could use “leben” for “live,” but most probably you would use the word “wohnen” like “an apartment” or “a flat” is a “Wohnung.” So when you speak of how you live or where you live, where you have your home, we use “wohnen.”
Good.
“To play” — “spielen” “spielen“
“To study” — “studieren“
In German, even though I would probably use it a little differently, mainly this word “studieren” is actually used for going to university or college, “studieren” or to look at something very closely. Then you could also say, “studieren.”
[00:09:00] I think there is probably a development more in the sense of if you want to learn something and you sit down, then you could say also like a course, for example, “studieren,” but mainly people will understand going to university.
So, “to study,” — “studieren“
“To hike” like in the mountains, — “wandern“
Then we have a word for talking on the telephone or mobile phone. Doesn’t matter which phone, actually, in German we say handy. So, on the cell phone, that would be,
“telefonieren“
[00:10:00] And then, the last word for our list for today, not the end of the podcast, the last word on this list,
“To happen.” — “passieren“
5. Pronunciation Tip: ‘-en’ vs ‘-n’
Maybe you have noticed already that we have these two letters at the end.
Again, if you haven’t, go and download that PDF that you find at bettergerman.info/45, the show notes, or you can find it directly at bettergerman.info/verbs1
We don’t say this last “e” before the “n” very much, or maybe sometimes not at all, we would say,
“ go ” — “to walk” or even
” gehn ” — “to walk”
” leben “,” lebn ” ( to live )
So, one more time, I’m going to say the English word and then the German word, and you repeat it.
“to walk,” — “gehen“, “gehen“, “gehn“
“to live” — “lebn“,“leben“, “lebn“
[00:11:00] Now, this “lebn” is kind of like how most people that speak German would say it in day-to-day language. It’s not really slang, it’s just like conversational language, I would say.
I am always trying to balance in this podcast, first of all, trying to speak clearly so it is easier for you to understand, but also I’m trying to not speak too clearly in the sense of like I’m trying to speak is, I would usually speak maybe a little slower, but because I want you to be able to actually understand people that speak German.
Okay, good.
[00:12:00] We’re going to carry on with some more repetition.
“To come” — “kommen“, “kommen“
“To stay.” — ” leben“, “lebn“
You can definitely say the “e” at the end, so you can absolutely say, “bleiben,” and this is probably easier for you than saying, “bleibn.“
However, I’m telling this to you also so you understand it when you hear it.
So next one,
“to live” in the sense of “have your home,” — “wohnen“, “wohnen“
“To play,” — “spielen“
“To study,” — “studieren“, “studieren“
[00:13:00] “To hike” — ” wander ” or, most probably, we’ll say ” wander .” Actually, this shouldn’t even be on this list, but anyway, I’m going to leave it on this list. What you’ll probably see, this is something which is still considered regular and following the normal rule, but it’s a little different, because this word “wander” it doesn’t actually have an “e” in at the end.
There is a few. There is not a lot, and this is one of them. But I’m going to say one word later on when I tell you what is different with this one. But anyway, as you can see, or hear, it doesn’t have an “- en” at the end, like all of the others ” come to life,” but it’s just an “n” actually. Sometimes that happens, it’s not a lot.
[00:14:00] The next one,
“to talk on the phone”
“phone call“, “phone call“
“To happen.” — “passieren“
All right, so, what we’ll also cover in this episode is how are we going to change this for “ich” like “I, you, he, she, it,” and what I’m going to do is we’re going to take this word “walk” and I’m going to just tell you. So, I’ll say it, you repeat it.
“I walk.” — “I walk“
If this is the first podcast episode you’ve heard, the best way to listen to this podcast is from the beginning, like from episode one, and if you are a complete beginner, I would highly, highly recommend it. Actually, I recommend doing that in any case if you like it.
[00:15:00] But if you are a complete beginner, I wouldn’t teach that to you in the first lesson. Let’s put it like that. How I would teach you is basically going back to the beginning and then coming forward. But anyway, we’ve already covered ” I, you, he, she, it, ” so “I, you, he, she,” in another episode ( Episode 26 – Personal Pronouns ), and I’m going to link it to you in the show notes again.
Because if you’re not sure about this one, that could be helpful.
6. How Verbs Change with Subject
[00:16:00] So, I hope you like what you hear. I wanted to mention this, so the best way to learn German with me is through my life group courses. You get real teaching, you get life support, and you get a clear path to really learn German and use the language.
🎧 Haven’t listened yet? Tune in to Episode 45 of the Better German Podcast to master the simple system behind German verbs — how they change, what the endings mean, and how to use them naturally in daily life!💡
So, “I walk,” — “ich gehen“
“you walk.” — “you walk“
Now this is “you” in the sense of I’m talking to another person. In German, we use a different form if you talk to one other person or several other persons, so,
“you walk” — “du gehst“
“he walks” — “er geht“
“we walk” — “wir gehen“
“you walk” and now in the sense of I’m talking to more than one other person
“ihr geht.”
and “they walk,” — ” they go “
[00:17:00] Now again, I suggest you to download this PDF because I’ve actually, even with a little drawing, demonstrated or shown in that PDF, these typical endings. They’re always the same, for every time when you say ” I ,” you have the same ending. So how that works is basically, we’ve gone through that list and you’ve seen or heard that we always have this “- en ” at the end.
And then in order to do this, this forms, you just take off that “-en“. So for “gehen,” you take off “-en”, then we have “geh“.
Then you add the letters for the different versions for each ” geh, ” so always, when you say ” i ,” you have an ” e ” at the end. So you would say, ” I’m going, ” or when you want to say, “I come,” then you say, ” I’m coming .”
[00:18:00] And if you want to say, “I stay,” you would say,
“ich bleibe”
So that’s how it works.
All right, so I hope that makes sense. By the way, let me know if you have any questions. You can let me know by leaving a comment where you are listening to the podcast, but the best is to just write to the podcast. There’s a podcast email address. It’s podcast@bettergerman.info and I would be thrilled to have your feedback. Also, if you have any questions, you can send them to me there, and maybe you will find that, your question is becoming a podcast episode. Okay, good.
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[00:19:00] So we are going to go through the forms of the verb and how you would use them in the sentence. I’ll say them in English, you’ll say it in German. We’re going to not do that with every single one of these words or verbs, but we’re going to do a few of them. Okay? So,
“I walk,” — “ich gehe“
“You walk” — “du gehst“, “du gehst.”
“He walks.” — “er geht“, “er geht“
“We walk” — “wir gehen“
And then again, this very often becomes just ” we go “
“We walk” — “wir gehen“, “wir gehen“
“You walk” in the plural, — “ihr geht“
“They walk,” — “sie gehen.”
[00:20:00] Let’s look at another one,
“To live.” — “leben“
“I live.” — “ich leben“
“You live” — “du lebst.”
“He lives,” — “er lebt“
“She lives.” — “sie lebt“
“It lives” — “es lebt“
“We live” — “wir leben“, “wir lebn“
“You live,” you speaking to you and another person. It’s a plural, —
“Ihr lebt“
“They live.” — “sie leben“
[00:21:00] Next one.
I’m going to do one more with translation. Okay.
The English word would be “to come”
German, “kommen.“
So “I come,” — “ich kommen“
“You come” — “Du kommst“
“He comes” — “ihr kommt“
Of course, “she comes” and “it comes” would be the same, so,
“sie kommt,” “es kommt“
“We come” — “wir kommen“
“You come” — “ihr kommt“
“They come” — “sie kommen“
[00:22:00] Now let’s do the whole thing without the English translation, kommen:
ich kommen
du kommst
er kommpt
sie kommpt
es kommpt
wir kommen
ihr kommpt
sie kommen
Great! So, this is the pattern.
7. Summary and What’s Next
If you download the worksheet, I’m going to give you exercises in there. Basically, you’re going to find spaces in there where you can practice this and you will see it. You will see the endings, and it’s going to be super easy, and I’m going to give you some further steps to practice.
These words, they’re all beginner verbs. So when you learn German, I mean, or any language, you will have to learn these very soon, and these are, except for this ” wander,” which is a special form of the regular verbs. So these are the completely regular verbs.
[00:23:00] If you keep listening to the podcast, there will be different forms of verbs that do this a little differently. There will be a couple of more, let me see if I can find which ones. I can’t tell you at this point in time when this is going to be published at this point in time, at the time of recording, we are publishing a new episode every two weeks.
I’ve just started working with another lady who is going to help me further and between me and my team, we are trying to up the frequency. So, but at this time, I can’t tell you exactly when, but I can tell you that Episode number 57 is going to be the verb “to have” in German, which is very irregular.
[00:24:00] We are going to have other episodes too, and the Episode 53 actually is going to be, verbs that change a little more than this one. They’re still regular, but they change a little differently. So, between this episode, episode 50, the episode about, “To be,” I think it’s 30, but I’ll link it for sure.
This episode, Episode 53 and Episode 57, you have the basis of the verbs in the present. Of course, you can also sign up to my course, and then you will learn them all there. Okay, cool.
So it was a pleasure talking to you. I always enjoy doing podcast episodes.
[00:25:00] I hope you’re going to tune in again the next time. Definitely get that PDF and tune in the next time, the next episode, by the way, is going to be about clothing vocabulary. So, like, what is a coat and a jacket and things like that in German. Very important, if you want to go shopping, I don’t know. That’s for sure not the only use case. So that’s what we’re going to cover the next time. Okay, so see you.
Bye-bye!
