English happily reuses one verb for two opposite roles: the boat sank (it happened by itself) and they sank the boat (someone made it happen) use the identical word sank. German refuses to do this. It keeps a separate verb for each role, and the two verbs differ in three predictable ways at once: conjugation class, transitivity, and Perfekt auxiliary. Learning them in pairs — and understanding why they split — turns a long list of confusing lookalikes into one tidy system.
The pattern: causative vs inchoative
Every pair has two members:
- The causative verb means "make X happen / cause X to do something." It is transitive (it takes a direct object in the accusative), it is weak (regular: adds -te in the Präteritum), and it forms its Perfekt with haben.
- The inchoative (also called anticausative or simply intransitive) verb means "X happens / X comes into a state by itself." It is intransitive (no object), it is usually strong (vowel change in the Präteritum), and — because it is a change of state or position — it usually forms its Perfekt with sein.
| Causative (weak, transitive, haben) | Inchoative (strong, intransitive, sein) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| senken – senkte – hat gesenkt | sinken – sank – ist gesunken | lower / sink |
| legen – legte – hat gelegt | liegen – lag – hat/ist gelegen | lay (down) / lie |
| setzen – setzte – hat gesetzt | sitzen – saß – hat/ist gesessen | set / sit |
| stellen – stellte – hat gestellt | stehen – stand – hat/ist gestanden | stand (sth) up / stand |
| fällen – fällte – hat gefällt | fallen – fiel – ist gefallen | fell (a tree) / fall |
| sprengen – sprengte – hat gesprengt | springen – sprang – ist gesprungen | blow up, burst (sth) / leap, burst |
| ertränken – ertränkte – hat ertränkt | ertrinken – ertrank – ist ertrunken | drown (sb) / drown (die) |
| wecken – weckte – hat geweckt | (auf)wachen – wachte – ist (auf)gewacht | wake (sb) / wake up |
| verbrennen (tr.) – verbrannte – hat verbrannt | verbrennen (intr.) – verbrannte – ist verbrannt | burn (sth) / burn up |
senken / sinken: lower vs sink
This pair shows the contrast at its cleanest, because both members are common in everyday and economic German.
Die Zentralbank hat die Zinsen erneut gesenkt.
The central bank has lowered interest rates again. (causative: someone acts on the rates; weak, haben)
Die Zinsen sind im letzten Quartal deutlich gesunken.
Interest rates fell significantly last quarter. (inchoative: they fell by themselves; strong, sein)
Das alte Frachtschiff sank innerhalb von Minuten.
The old cargo ship sank within minutes. (no agent — it went down on its own)
Notice that senken always needs an object ("lower what?"), while sinken never takes one. If you find yourself wanting to put an object after sinken, you have reached for the wrong verb.
legen / liegen and setzen / sitzen: the positional pairs
The positional verbs are the same system applied to placement and posture. Legen, setzen, stellen are weak, transitive causatives ("put / lay / set something somewhere"); liegen, sitzen, stehen are strong intransitives ("be lying / sitting / standing somewhere"). These appear constantly, and they trigger the two-way prepositions: the causatives take the accusative (motion toward a goal), the positional intransitives take the dative (location). For the case side of this, see positional verb pairs and the legen/liegen, stellen/stehen, setzen/sitzen decision guide.
Leg das Buch bitte auf den Tisch.
Please put the book on the table. (legen + accusative den Tisch — motion; informal)
Das Buch liegt schon den ganzen Tag auf dem Tisch.
The book has been lying on the table all day. (liegen + dative dem Tisch — location)
Setz dich doch — du machst mich nervös.
Why don't you sit down — you're making me nervous. (setzen, reflexive causative; informal)
The positional intransitives are the historical odd ones out on the auxiliary: standard German uses hat gelegen / hat gesessen / hat gestanden, while southern German and Austrian usage prefers ist. Both are accepted; the rest of the system (sinken, fallen, springen) is firmly sein.
fällen / fallen: the tree-feller's pair
This pair catches learners because the verbs look almost identical. Fallen (strong) means "to fall"; fällen (weak, with umlaut) means "to fell, to cut down" — and metaphorically "to render" a judgment or decision.
Der Sturm hat viele Bäume fallen lassen, aber gefällt wurde keiner.
The storm brought down many trees, but none was felled. (fallen = fall on its own; fällen = cut down deliberately)
Das Gericht hat sein Urteil noch nicht gefällt.
The court has not yet handed down its verdict. (fällen, figurative; formal/legal register)
Pass auf, dass du nicht fällst!
Watch out you don't fall! (fallen, intransitive; informal)
ertränken / ertrinken and wecken / wachen: when it matters most
With some pairs the choice carries real-world weight. Ertrinken is to drown (and die) by oneself; ertränken is to drown someone or something deliberately. Aufwachen is to wake up; wecken is to wake someone.
Fast wäre das Kind im Fluss ertrunken.
The child nearly drowned in the river. (ertrinken — the child, by accident)
Wecken Sie mich bitte um sechs Uhr.
Please wake me at six. (wecken — you act on me; formal Sie)
Ich bin heute schon um fünf aufgewacht.
I woke up at five today already. (aufwachen — happened to me on its own; sein-auxiliary)
hängen: one spelling, two verbs
A special case worth flagging: hängen is spelled the same in both roles but conjugates differently. Intransitive "to hang, be hanging" is strong: hängen – hing – hat gehangen. Transitive "to hang (something up)" is weak: hängen – hängte – hat gehängt. Same infinitive, two past tenses.
Das Bild hing jahrelang über dem Sofa.
The picture hung over the sofa for years. (intransitive, strong: hing)
Ich hängte das Bild über das Sofa.
I hung the picture over the sofa. (transitive, weak: hängte)
Why English lets you down — and the bridge to lassen
Because English merges the pairs (sink/sink, burn/burn, drown/drown), English speakers carry over a single verb and then guess the auxiliary, getting both halves wrong. The fix is to store the pair together as a unit from the start, the way you store an irregular verb's three principal parts.
When German lacks a ready-made causative, it builds one analytically with lassen ("cause/let X happen") — etwas fallen lassen = "to drop something," literally "let it fall." So even where no morphological causative exists, the cause/happen distinction survives via lassen.
Sie hat aus Versehen ihr Handy fallen lassen.
She accidentally dropped her phone. (lassen as an analytic causative for fallen)
Common Mistakes
❌ Die Bank hat die Zinsen gesunken.
Incorrect — sinken is intransitive and means rates fall by themselves; the bank's action needs the causative senken.
✅ Die Bank hat die Zinsen gesenkt.
The bank lowered interest rates.
❌ Ich habe auf das Sofa gesessen.
Incorrect — sitzen is intransitive (be seated) and (in standard German) does not pair with motion-accusative; for the act of sitting down use sich setzen.
✅ Ich habe auf dem Sofa gesessen.
I sat (was sitting) on the sofa. (location, dative)
❌ Das Schiff hat schnell gesunken.
Incorrect auxiliary — sinken is a change of state and takes sein.
✅ Das Schiff ist schnell gesunken.
The ship sank quickly.
❌ Der Förster ist gestern drei Bäume gefallen.
Incorrect — 'cut down trees' is the causative fällen (with haben), not fallen.
✅ Der Förster hat gestern drei Bäume gefällt.
The forester felled three trees yesterday.
❌ Meine Mutter ist mich um sieben gewacht.
Incorrect — to wake someone is the causative wecken (haben); aufwachen is what you do by yourself.
✅ Meine Mutter hat mich um sieben geweckt.
My mother woke me at seven.
Key Takeaways
- German splits causative (weak, transitive, haben) from inchoative (strong, intransitive, usually sein) into two distinct verbs.
- The weak, often umlauted member is the causative ("make it happen"): senken, legen, fällen, wecken.
- The strong member is the change happening by itself: sinken, liegen, fallen, aufwachen.
- Store each pair together with its auxiliary; hängen uniquely shares a spelling but splits its past forms (hing/hängte).
- Where no morphological causative exists, German builds one with lassen (fallen lassen = drop).
Now practice German
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning German→Related Topics
- Positional Verb Pairs: legen/liegen, stellen/stehen, setzen/sitzen, hängenB1 — The transitive 'put' verbs that take the accusative and the intransitive 'be located' verbs that take the dative, and how to tell hängen apart from itself.
- Transitive and Intransitive Verbs (and Valency)B1 — How a verb's valency — the case and prepositional frame it requires — determines its object, and how it links to the haben/sein auxiliary choice in the Perfekt.
- haben vs sein in the PerfektA2 — How to choose the right auxiliary verb in the German present perfect: haben by default, sein for intransitive motion and change-of-state verbs.
- lassen: let, have done, and leaveB2 — The versatile verb lassen — permissive 'let', causative 'have something done', the reflexive sich lassen passive, and standalone 'leave/stop' — plus its double-infinitive Perfekt.
- legen/liegen, stellen/stehen, setzen/sitzenB1 — The German positional verb system: how to choose the transitive 'put' verb or the intransitive 'be located' verb, then pick by orientation.