Chinese (Mandarin)

Spanish

English

Hindi

Arabic (Modern Standard)

Portuguese

Bengali

Russian

Japanese

Punjabi

German

Javanese

Malay

Telugu

Vietnamese

Korean

French

Marathi

Tamil

Urdu

Turkish

Italian

Chinese, Yue / Cantonese

Thai

Gujarati

Chinese, Jin

Chinese, Min Nan

Dari

Farsi

Polish

Pashto

Kannada

Chinese, Xiang

Malayalam

Sundanese

Hausa

Odia

Burmese

Chinese, Hakka

Ukrainian

Bihari, Bhojpuri

Tagalog

Yoruba

Bihari, Maithili

Uzbek

Sindhi

Amharic

Fula

Romanian

Oromo

Igbo

Azerbaijani

Chinese, Gan

Dutch

Kurdish, Central

Kurdish, Northern

Kurdish, Southern

Malagasy

Lahnda, Saraiki

Nepali

Sinhalese

Chittagonian

Zhuang

Khmer

Turkmen

Assamese

Madurese

Somali

Marwari

Bihari, Magahi

Haryanvi

Hungarian

Chhattisgarhi

Greek

Chewa

Dakhini

Akan, Twi

Akan, Fante

Kazakh

Chinese, Min Bei

Sylheti

Zulu

Czech

Kinyarwanda

Marwari, Dhundhari

Haitian Creole

Chinese, Min Dong

Ilocano

Quechua

Kirundi

Swedish

Hmong

Shona

Uyghur

Hiligaynon

Mossi

Xhosa

Belarusian

Balochi

Many German verbs come in historical pairs. In these pairs, one verb describes an action that happens on its own (**intransitive**), while the other verb describes *causing* that action to happen to a direct object (**transitive**).

There is a very reliable grammatical pattern to these pairs:
- The **intransitive** (happening) verb is usually a **strong** (irregular) verb. Because it often describes a change of state or motion, it typically forms its perfect tense with **sein**.
- The **transitive** (causing) verb is a **weak** (regular) verb. Because it takes a direct object, it forms its perfect tense with **haben**.

### Fallen and Fällen

A classic example is the pair **fallen** (to fall) and **fällen** (to fell / cut down).

As the intransitive action, *fallen* is a strong verb that uses *sein* in the perfect tense.

{{item:885877}}

To describe causing a tree to fall, you use the weak, transitive verb *fällen*. Notice the vowel shift (from *a* to *ä*) and the regular *-t* participle ending.

{{item:885879}}

You can see both the strong happening and the weak causing side-by-side in this sentence:

{{item:885881}}

### Sinken and Senken

The exact same pattern applies to sinking. **Sinken** (to sink) is the strong, intransitive verb.

{{item:885884}}

If you want to actively sink or lower an object, you use the weak, transitive verb **senken**. Here, the core vowel shifts from *i* to *e*.

{{item:885883}}

### Liegen and Legen

You have likely already encountered this pattern with position verbs. **Liegen** (to lie / be located) describes a state or outcome, while **legen** (to lay) describes the active, transitive process of placing an object.

{{item:885897}}

{{item:885898}}

### Verschwinden and Verschwenden

While their meanings have drifted apart over the centuries, this final pair follows the exact same morphological shift!

**Verschwinden** (to disappear) is the strong, intransitive verb indicating a change in state.

{{item:885894}}

Meanwhile, **verschwenden** (to waste) is its weak, transitive counterpart, taking a direct object and using *haben* for its perfect tense.

{{item:885895}}

Transitive and intransitive verb pairs (fällen/fallen, senken/sinken)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
to gnaw	nagen
Who is gnawing on this tree here?	Wer nagt hier an diesem Baum?
the rodent	der Nager
The rodent gnaws as long as the wood is soft.	Der Nager nagt, solange das Holz weich ist.
The old tree has finally fallen into the river.	Der alte Baum ist endlich in den Fluss gefallen.
to fell	fällen
Who felled this big tree?	Wer hat diesen großen Baum gefällt?
the beaver	der Biber
The tree only falls because the beaver felled it.	Der Baum fällt nur, weil der Biber ihn gefällt hat.
the body of water	das Gewässer
The smart beaver lowers the branch into the body of water.	Der schlaue Biber senkt den Ast in das Gewässer.
The branch sank slowly into the body of water.	Der Ast ist langsam in das Gewässer gesunken.
the dam	der Staudamm
This dam needs to be repaired immediately, as long as the weather stays good.	Dieser Staudamm gehört sofort repariert, solange das Wetter gut bleibt.
to dam	stauen
the water level	der Wasserspiegel
The dam dams the river, and the water level rises.	Der Staudamm staut den Fluss, und der Wasserspiegel steigt.
The rodent dammed the river.	Der Nager hat den Fluss gestaut.
to waste	verschwenden
The hardworking rodent wastes no time.	Der fleißige Nager verschwendet keine Zeit.
the pond	der Teich
The branch disappeared in the pond.	Der Ast ist im Teich verschwunden.
We waste no water from this pond.	Wir verschwenden kein Wasser aus diesem Teich.
As long as the beaver builds, the water level needs to be checked.	Solange der Biber baut, gehört der Wasserspiegel kontrolliert.
The beaver laid the wood onto the dam.	Der Biber hat das Holz auf den Staudamm gelegt.
Now the wood lies there and sinks slowly.	Jetzt liegt das Holz dort und sinkt langsam.
to drive, to propel	treiben
The wind drives the boat to the shore.	Der Wind treibt das Boot ans Ufer.
Fear drove him to this step.	Die Angst trieb ihn zu diesem Schritt.
to yield, to result in	ergeben
The investigation yielded a clear picture.	Die Untersuchung ergab ein klares Bild.
The calculation results in a high price.	Die Rechnung ergibt einen hohen Preis.

Contributors