German verbs 🇩🇪

About the German verb trainer

This free tool helps kids study and practice German verbs: over a hundred of the most common verbs — weak, strong, separable, inseparable and modal — in the five tenses taught at school: Präsens, Präteritum, Perfekt, Plusquamperfekt and Futur I. Each conjugation comes with the rule that builds it, the endings highlighted and the traps explained (the -e- of du arbeitest, the vowel change of du fährst, haben or sein in the Perfekt), and the browser can read every form out loud in German.

How it works

• Study: pick a verb and a tense to see the full conjugation with the endings in colour, the rule behind it and the notes for that verb. Type any verb, even one that is not in the list, and it is conjugated as a weak verb.
• Full verb: fill in the six persons of one verb in one tense. Spelling counts — a form that is almost right is flagged separately so the kid learns the exact form.
• Mixed practice: random persons, verbs and tenses drawn from the verbs you choose — all of them, weak only, strong only or separable only. Strong verbs in the Präteritum and the Perfekt are the fastest way to learn the famous three-form lists (gehen – ging – gegangen).
• Rewards: a round with every answer right unlocks the Bouncy Bird mini-game for up to a minute — short on purpose, so the practice stays the main event — and every verb done at 100% is saved in your records.

Why practice verbs this way

German verbs are built from a small set of very regular rules plus a list of strong verbs that has to be memorized. Kids trip on the same handful of things every time: the -e- in du arbeitest and er findet, the vowel change in du fährst and er gibt, the prefix that jumps to the end of the sentence (ich stehe um sieben auf), and above all the choice between haben and sein in the Perfekt. Writing the forms yourself and being corrected right away is what makes them stick, and seeing the rule next to the verb turns a list into a pattern.

Tips for parents

• Start with the Präsens of sein, haben and a few weak verbs (spielen, machen, lernen), then add the verbs with a vowel change (fahren, geben, sehen, essen).
• The Perfekt is the past tense Germans actually speak. Practice it early, one auxiliary at a time: first haben, then the sein verbs (gehen, kommen, fahren, bleiben, sein).
• The Präteritum is mostly used in writing, but sein, haben and the modal verbs (war, hatte, konnte, musste, wollte) are used everywhere — learn those six first.
• Use the "Listen" button: hearing ich arbeite / du arbeitest helps far more than reading it, and it trains the ear for the umlauts.
• Review the "to review" list at the end of each round together — those are the forms worth a second look.