Between the tidy weak verbs (-t) and the strong verbs (-en) sits a small group that borrows from both: the mixed verbs. They change their stem vowel like a strong verb but take the weak -t ending. Alongside them live a handful of wholly irregular participles you simply must know because you use them every day — gewesen, geworden, gegangen. This page corrals both groups into memorizable families.
Mixed verbs: a strong-looking vowel with a weak -t
A mixed verb does two things at once: it shifts its stem vowel (often to -a-) and ends in -t. That combination is why they feel slippery — they trigger the "this looks strong" instinct, so learners reach for -en, but the ending is weak.
| Infinitive | Participle | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bringen | gebracht | brought |
| denken | gedacht | thought |
| kennen | gekannt | known (a person/place) |
| nennen | genannt | named / called |
| rennen | gerannt | run (sprinted) |
| brennen | gebrannt | burned |
| wissen | gewusst | known (a fact) |
Look at the pattern: every one of these has ge- + (vowel changed to a) + consonant + -t, except wissen (which goes to -u-: gewusst). This is the insight competitors skip — the mixed verbs are a coherent family, not seven random exceptions. Six of them go to -a- (gebracht, gedacht, gekannt, genannt, gerannt, gebrannt) and the consonant before the -t sometimes changes too: the -nk-/-ng- of denken/bringen hardens into -ch- (gedacht, gebracht), while the double -nn- of kennen, nennen, rennen, brennen simply collapses to a single -n- before the -t. English preserves a fossil of the very same alternation — think → thought, bring → brought, seek → sought — so the -ght of "thought" and the -cht of gedacht are historical cousins. Memorize the German set as one rhythmic block and it sticks.
Ich habe dir extra deinen Lieblingskuchen mitgebracht.
I brought along your favorite cake just for you.
Daran habe ich gar nicht gedacht — gut, dass du es sagst.
I didn't think of that at all — good thing you're mentioning it.
Wir haben uns schon als Kinder gekannt.
We knew each other already as children.
Das habe ich wirklich nicht gewusst, sonst hätte ich etwas gesagt.
I really didn't know that, otherwise I'd have said something.
Mixed verbs hide behind prefixes
Once you know the seven roots, you also know every prefixed verb built on them. The participle of the prefixed form follows the same ge- logic as everywhere else.
| Infinitive | Participle | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| verbringen | verbracht | spent (time) |
| erkennen | erkannt | recognized |
| nachdenken | nachgedacht | pondered / reflected |
| verbrennen | verbrannt | burned (up) |
Note how the prefix rules sort themselves out: nachdenken is separable, so the -ge- slots in the middle (nachgedacht), while verbringen and erkennen are inseparable, so no ge- (verbracht, erkannt). For the full prefix story, see participles of separable and inseparable verbs.
Wir haben einen wunderbaren Sommer in Italien verbracht.
We spent a wonderful summer in Italy.
Ich habe lange darüber nachgedacht und mich endlich entschieden.
I thought it over for a long time and finally made up my mind.
Den Begriff hat der Autor in seinem ersten Werk geprägt — so wurde er erstmals genannt.
The author coined the term in his first work — that's how it was first named. (literary/academic register)
The truly irregular participles you can't avoid
A few verbs are so central — and so old — that their participles fit no pattern. These three appear in nearly every conversation, so learn them as fixed vocabulary, not as derivations.
| Infinitive | Participle | Auxiliary | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| sein | gewesen | sein | been |
| haben | gehabt | haben | had |
| werden | geworden / worden | sein | become / been (passive) |
| tun | getan | haben | done |
| gehen | gegangen | sein | gone |
| stehen | gestanden | haben | stood |
A few of these reward a closer look:
- sein → gewesen and gehen → gegangen both take the auxiliary sein: Ich bin gewesen, Ich bin gegangen. See haben vs sein.
- werden has two participles. As a full verb meaning "to become," it's geworden (Sie ist Ärztin geworden — She became a doctor). As the passive auxiliary, it loses the ge- and becomes worden (Das Auto ist repariert worden — The car has been repaired). This geworden/worden split is a classic stumbling block — the ge- drops only in the passive.
- tun → getan and stehen → gestanden look almost weak, but the participle vowels (-a-) and endings put them in their own irregular corner.
Ich bin noch nie in Wien gewesen, aber ich will unbedingt hin.
I've never been to Vienna, but I really want to go.
Meine Schwester ist nach dem Studium Lehrerin geworden.
After her studies, my sister became a teacher.
Das Fahrrad ist letzte Woche endlich repariert worden.
The bike was finally repaired last week.
Wir sind gestern Abend ins Kino gegangen.
We went to the cinema last night.
How English speakers trip up
The mixed verbs invite two opposite mistakes: regularizing them (treating them as plain weak verbs and forgetting the vowel change) or over-strengthening them (giving them the strong -en ending because of the vowel change).
❌ Ich habe an dich gedenkt.
Incorrect — denken changes the vowel to -a-: gedacht.
✅ Ich habe an dich gedacht.
I thought of you.
❌ Hast du den Wein mitgebringt?
Incorrect — bringen is mixed: gebracht, not -bringt.
✅ Hast du den Wein mitgebracht?
Did you bring the wine along?
❌ Wir haben uns schon lange gekennt.
Incorrect — kennen goes to -a-: gekannt.
✅ Wir haben uns schon lange gekannt.
We've known each other for a long time.
❌ Ich habe es nicht gewissen.
Incorrect — wissen is mixed, not strong: gewusst.
✅ Ich habe es nicht gewusst.
I didn't know.
❌ Das Haus ist letztes Jahr gebaut geworden.
Incorrect — in the passive, werden loses ge-: worden.
✅ Das Haus ist letztes Jahr gebaut worden.
The house was built last year.
Key takeaways
- Mixed verbs combine a vowel change with the weak -t ending: gebracht, gedacht, gekannt, genannt, gerannt, gebrannt, gewusst.
- Most mixed verbs shift to -a-, mirroring their Präteritum (brachte/gebracht) — learn the triplet together.
- The closed set is small; memorize the seven roots and you also get every prefixed form (verbracht, erkannt, nachgedacht).
- Truly irregular participles to bank as vocabulary: gewesen, gehabt, geworden/worden, getan, gegangen, gestanden.
- werden has two participles: geworden (became) and worden (passive auxiliary, no ge-).
Now practice German
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- 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.
- Past Participles of Strong Verbs (ge-...-en)A2 — How strong German verbs form their past participle with ge-...-en and a changed stem vowel, grouped by ablaut series.
- Präteritum of Mixed VerbsB1 — A small closed set of verbs that change their stem vowel like strong verbs but take the weak -te endings.
- bringen: Full Conjugation and UsageA2 — Complete conjugation of bringen 'to bring / to take (somewhere)' across every tense and mood, with principal parts, the dative + accusative pattern, idioms, and the errors English speakers make.
- denken: Full Conjugation and UsageA2 — Complete conjugation of denken 'to think' across every tense and mood, with principal parts, the denken an + accusative pattern, idioms, and the errors English speakers make.
- 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.