Lernen ("to learn", "to study") is one of the first verbs every German learner meets — fittingly, since it is the verb for the very thing you are doing. It is a textbook weak verb: completely regular, no vowel changes, no surprises. That makes it the perfect model for the entire weak class, which covers the large majority of German verbs. Master lernen and you have effectively learned the regular pattern that thousands of other verbs follow.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Präteritum | Partizip II (auxiliary) |
|---|---|---|
| lernen | lernte | gelernt (hat) |
Read this as lernen – lernte – hat gelernt. The stem lern- never changes: the past tense simply glues -te onto the stem, and the participle wraps the stem in ge- … -t. This is the defining signature of a weak verb. The Perfekt auxiliary is haben, because lernen describes an activity, not a movement or a change of state. See weak, strong, and mixed verbs for why this matters.
Präsens (present)
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | lerne |
| du | lernst |
| er / sie / es | lernt |
| wir | lernen |
| ihr | lernt |
| sie / Sie | lernen |
These are the textbook present-tense endings attached to an unchanging stem. Unlike strong verbs such as fahren (du fährst) or sehen (du siehst), the vowel in lernen stays put across the whole paradigm. Note also that German has no progressive form: ich lerne covers both "I learn" and "I am learning" — the difference English makes with -ing simply does not exist here. See present-tense usage and the missing progressive.
Ich lerne gerade Deutsch, deshalb klingt mein Satzbau noch komisch.
I'm learning German right now, that's why my sentence structure still sounds odd. (informal; 'ich lerne' = both 'I learn' and 'I'm learning')
Lernst du noch für die Prüfung oder bist du schon fertig?
Are you still studying for the exam, or are you done already? (informal)
Kinder lernen Sprachen erstaunlich schnell.
Children learn languages astonishingly fast.
Präteritum (simple past)
The weak past is built on -te-: lern- + -te + the personal ending. In conversation, native speakers usually prefer the Perfekt (ich habe gelernt); the Präteritum lernte belongs mainly to writing and narration. See the weak Präteritum.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | lernte |
| du | lerntest |
| er / sie / es | lernte |
| wir | lernten |
| ihr | lerntet |
| sie / Sie | lernten |
Als Kind lernte sie Klavier, gab es aber bald wieder auf.
As a child she learned the piano, but soon gave it up again. (Präteritum, natural in written narration)
Perfekt (present perfect)
Present of haben + the participle gelernt. This is the form you will actually say out loud when talking about learning in the past.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | habe gelernt |
| du | hast gelernt |
| er / sie / es | hat gelernt |
| wir | haben gelernt |
| ihr | habt gelernt |
| sie / Sie | haben gelernt |
Ich habe das Lied auswendig gelernt.
I learned the song by heart. (Perfekt with haben, weak participle gelernt)
In diesem Job habe ich unglaublich viel gelernt.
I learned an incredible amount in this job. (informal)
Plusquamperfekt (past perfect)
Past of the auxiliary (hatte) + gelernt — for an action completed before another past event.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | hatte gelernt |
| du | hattest gelernt |
| er / sie / es | hatte gelernt |
| wir | hatten gelernt |
| ihr | hattet gelernt |
| sie / Sie | hatten gelernt |
Sie bestand die Prüfung, weil sie wochenlang gelernt hatte.
She passed the exam because she had studied for weeks.
Futur I and Futur II
Werden + infinitive (Futur I), or werden + Partizip II + haben (Futur II).
| Person | Futur I | Futur II |
|---|---|---|
| ich | werde lernen | werde gelernt haben |
| du | wirst lernen | wirst gelernt haben |
| er / sie / es | wird lernen | wird gelernt haben |
| wir | werden lernen | werden gelernt haben |
| ihr | werdet lernen | werdet gelernt haben |
| sie / Sie | werden lernen | werden gelernt haben |
Bis zum Sommer werde ich genug Spanisch gelernt haben, um eine Speisekarte zu verstehen.
By summer I'll have learned enough Spanish to understand a menu. (Futur II)
Imperativ (commands)
| Addressee | Form |
|---|---|
| du | lern(e) |
| ihr | lernt |
| Sie | lernen Sie |
The -e on the du-form (lerne!) is optional and sounds slightly formal or old-fashioned; in everyday speech most people just say lern!
Lern erst mal die Grundlagen, der Rest kommt von allein.
Learn the basics first, the rest will come on its own. (informal du-command)
Konjunktiv II (would / hypothetical)
For a weak verb, the synthetic Konjunktiv II is identical to the Präteritum (lernte), so German almost always uses the würde-form instead to avoid ambiguity. See the würde-form.
| Person | würde-form (usual) |
|---|---|
| ich | würde lernen |
| du | würdest lernen |
| er / sie / es | würde lernen |
| wir | würden lernen |
| ihr | würdet lernen |
| sie / Sie | würden lernen |
An deiner Stelle würde ich erst mal die Vokabeln lernen.
If I were you, I'd learn the vocabulary first. (würde-form, because synthetic 'lernte' would look like the past)
Usage and government
Lernen takes a direct object in the accusative: you learn a thing.
Wir lernen jeden Tag neue Wörter.
We learn new words every day. (neue Wörter = accusative object)
It also combines directly with a bare infinitive (no zu) to mean "learn how to do something" — much like English "learn to swim":
Mit fünf Jahren lernte er schwimmen.
He learned to swim at the age of five. (lernen + bare infinitive, no 'zu')
lernen vs. studieren
This is the single biggest false-friend trap. English uses "study" for both school homework and university enrolment, but German splits them:
- lernen = to learn, to study (in the sense of revising, doing schoolwork, acquiring a skill).
- studieren = to be a university student / to major in a subject.
So a pupil cramming for a test lernt, but a person enrolled at a university studiert. See studieren.
Ich studiere Medizin und lerne gerade für das Physikum.
I'm studying medicine (at university) and I'm currently studying (revising) for the first board exam. (studieren = enrolled; lernen = revising)
Common idioms and fixed expressions
| Expression | English |
|---|---|
| auswendig lernen | to learn by heart, to memorise |
| aus Fehlern lernen | to learn from one's mistakes |
| jemanden kennenlernen | to get to know someone, to meet someone |
| Man lernt nie aus. | You're never too old to learn / live and learn. |
Note that kennenlernen ("to get to know") is written as one word and is itself a separable verb — see kennenlernen.
Es freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen.
It's a pleasure to meet you. (formal; note the fused 'kennenzulernen')
Common Mistakes
❌ Ich studiere für die Mathearbeit.
Incorrect — 'studieren' means to be a university student. For revising/cramming, German uses lernen.
✅ Ich lerne für die Mathearbeit.
I'm studying for the maths test.
❌ Ich bin viel gelernt.
Incorrect auxiliary — lernen is an activity and takes haben, not sein.
✅ Ich habe viel gelernt.
I learned a lot.
❌ Ich lerne zu kochen.
Incorrect — lernen governs a bare infinitive, with no 'zu'.
✅ Ich lerne kochen.
I'm learning to cook.
❌ Ich habe gelehrnt.
Incorrect spelling — the participle has no extra 'h': it's gelernt.
✅ Ich habe gelernt.
I learned / I have learned.
Key Takeaways
- Principal parts: lernen – lernte – hat gelernt — the model weak verb, with no vowel changes.
- Perfekt always uses haben: ich habe gelernt, never bin gelernt.
- Takes an accusative object, and a bare infinitive for "learn to do X" (lernen schwimmen).
- Keep lernen (study/learn, revise, acquire a skill) apart from studieren (be at university).
- The synthetic Konjunktiv II looks like the past, so use the würde-form for hypotheticals.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- Weak, Strong, and Mixed VerbsA2 — The three German verb classes defined by how they form their past tense and participle — weak (-te / ge-...-t), strong (ablaut / ge-...-en), and mixed (vowel change + weak endings).
- Present Tense: Regular (Weak) VerbsA1 — The full present-tense paradigm of regular German verbs, and why one German form does the work of three English ones.
- Präteritum of Weak Verbs (-te)A2 — The fully regular weak past: stem + -te + endings, the ich/er identity, and the linking -ete- after t- and d-stems.
- Past Participles of Weak Verbs (ge-...-t)A2 — How to build the regular German past participle: ge- + stem + -t, plus the verbs that drop ge- entirely.
- studieren: Full Conjugation and UsageA2 — Complete conjugation of studieren 'to study (at university)' across every tense and mood, plus the crucial studieren-vs-lernen distinction and the errors English speakers make.
- kennenlernen: Full Conjugation and UsageA2 — Complete conjugation of kennenlernen 'to get to know / to meet', a high-frequency separable weak verb, with principal parts, the haben Perfekt, the kennengelernt participle, and the errors English speakers make.