Studieren ("to study at university, to major in, to read a subject") is a high-frequency verb that learners reach for constantly when talking about education — and one they routinely misuse, because English study covers far more ground than German studieren. Grammatically it is easy: a fully weak (regular) verb belonging to the large -ieren class. Its single most important quirk flows from that class membership: -ieren verbs form their participle without ge- (studiert, never gestudiert). The harder part is semantic — knowing when to use studieren and when to use lernen.
Principal parts
| Infinitive | Präteritum | Partizip II (auxiliary) |
|---|---|---|
| studieren | studierte | studiert (hat) |
Read this as: studieren – studierte – hat studiert. Two facts to lock in:
- The participle is studiert, not gestudiert. Every verb ending in -ieren drops the ge-. The reason is phonological: -ieren verbs are stressed on the -ier- syllable (stu·DIE·ren), and the unstressed ge- prefix only attaches to verbs stressed on the first syllable. No exceptions in this class — studieren, telefonieren, funktionieren, passieren, organisieren, reparieren, all of them.
- It is fully weak, so there is no vowel change anywhere and the Präteritum is the regular stem + -te.
Präsens (present)
Standard weak endings. The stem is studier-.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | studiere |
| du | studierst |
| er / sie / es | studiert |
| wir | studieren |
| ihr | studiert |
| sie / Sie | studieren |
Ich studiere Medizin im dritten Semester.
I'm in my third semester studying medicine. (informal)
Was studierst du eigentlich?
What do you actually study (as your degree)? (informal)
Meine Schwester studiert in München Jura.
My sister studies law in Munich. (informal)
Präteritum (simple past)
Regular weak Präteritum: studier- + -te + ending. For studieren the Präteritum and the Perfekt are both common in writing; in casual speech the Perfekt dominates.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | studierte |
| du | studiertest |
| er / sie / es | studierte |
| wir | studierten |
| ihr | studiertet |
| sie / Sie | studierten |
In den Achtzigern studierte er Philosophie in Tübingen.
In the eighties he studied philosophy in Tübingen. (narrative)
Perfekt (present perfect)
Present of haben + studiert. The auxiliary is haben, because studieren is a transitive verb that takes a direct object (the subject you read).
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | habe studiert |
| du | hast studiert |
| er / sie / es | hat studiert |
| wir | haben studiert |
| ihr | habt studiert |
| sie / Sie | haben studiert |
Ich habe in Heidelberg Biologie studiert.
I studied biology in Heidelberg. (i.e. that was my degree; informal)
Hast du wirklich vier Jahre Kunstgeschichte studiert?
Did you really study art history for four years? (informal)
Plusquamperfekt (past perfect)
Past of haben (hatte) + studiert.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | hatte studiert |
| du | hattest studiert |
| er / sie / es | hatte studiert |
| wir | hatten studiert |
| ihr | hattet studiert |
| sie / Sie | hatten studiert |
Bevor sie Ärztin wurde, hatte sie auch ein Jahr Chemie studiert.
Before she became a doctor, she had also studied chemistry for a year.
Futur I
Werden + the infinitive studieren at the end.
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | werde studieren |
| du | wirst studieren |
| er / sie / es | wird studieren |
| wir | werden studieren |
| ihr | werdet studieren |
| sie / Sie | werden studieren |
Nach dem Abitur will ich Informatik studieren.
After my school-leaving exams I want to study computer science. (informal; present-as-future with the modal)
Konjunktiv II (would / hypothetical)
Because studieren is weak, the synthetic form studierte collides with the Präteritum, so the würde-form is the standard choice.
| Person | würde-form (standard) |
|---|---|
| ich | würde studieren |
| du | würdest studieren |
| er / sie / es | würde studieren |
| wir | würden studieren |
| ihr | würdet studieren |
| sie / Sie | würden studieren |
Wenn ich noch einmal jung wäre, würde ich Musik studieren.
If I were young again, I'd study music. (hypothetical)
Usage, government, and the studieren-vs-lernen trap
Studieren takes the accusative for its object — the field of study: Ich studiere Jura ("I study law"). It is the verb for tertiary education: enrolling at a university or Hochschule and pursuing a degree. By extension it also means "to scrutinise / pore over" a document: Er studierte die Speisekarte ("He pored over the menu"). It does not mean "study for a test tonight" or "learn vocabulary."
This is the single biggest pitfall for English speakers. English study spreads across two different German verbs:
| You mean… | German verb | Example |
|---|---|---|
| pursue a university degree | studieren | Ich studiere Physik. |
| study for an exam / do homework / learn | lernen | Ich lerne für die Prüfung. |
| learn a skill or language | lernen | Ich lerne Deutsch. |
So a German university student who says Ich studiere Deutsch means they are doing a degree in German (German philology), not that they are learning the language as a foreigner — for that you say Ich lerne Deutsch. See the companion page on lernen for the other half of this pair.
Ich studiere Anglistik, aber heute Abend lerne ich für die Statistikprüfung.
I'm doing a degree in English studies, but tonight I'm studying for the statistics exam. (the two verbs side by side; informal)
Er studierte den Vertrag Wort für Wort, bevor er unterschrieb.
He studied the contract word for word before signing. (the 'pore over' sense)
Common Mistakes
❌ Ich habe gestern für den Test studiert.
Incorrect — studieren is for a degree, not exam prep; use lernen here.
✅ Ich habe gestern für den Test gelernt.
I studied for the test yesterday.
❌ Ich habe drei Jahre Jura gestudiert.
Incorrect — -ieren verbs take no ge-; the participle is studiert.
✅ Ich habe drei Jahre Jura studiert.
I studied law for three years.
❌ Ich bin in Berlin studiert.
Incorrect auxiliary — studieren is transitive and takes haben, not sein.
✅ Ich habe in Berlin studiert.
I studied in Berlin.
❌ Ich studiere Deutsch in einem Sprachkurs.
Misleading — this implies a degree in German philology; a language course is lernen.
✅ Ich lerne Deutsch in einem Sprachkurs.
I'm learning German in a language course.
Key Takeaways
- Principal parts: studieren – studierte – hat studiert. Weak, -ieren class, auxiliary haben.
- The participle is studiert with no ge- — a rule shared by every -ieren verb.
- Studieren = pursue a university degree (or pore over a document); it takes the accusative.
- Use lernen, not studieren, for studying for a test or learning a language/skill.
- Ich studiere Deutsch means "I'm doing a degree in German," not "I'm learning German."
Now practice German
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- lernen: Full Conjugation and UsageA1 — Complete conjugation of the weak verb lernen 'to learn / to study' across every tense and mood, with principal parts, the lernen + infinitive construction, the studieren contrast, and the errors English speakers make.
- 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).
- 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.
- Perfekt Auxiliary: haben vs seinA2 — How to choose between haben and sein in the German Perfekt — motion and change of state take sein, and a direct object flips it to haben.
- The Accusative CaseA1 — The accusative marks the direct object — and because only masculine articles visibly change, masculine 'den/einen' is the system's single biggest stumbling block.
- 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.