Last week we have discussed a very specific and complex grammar topic – German regular and irregular verbs. Today we are going to continue our talk about irregular verbs and cover one of the most important topics – Ablaut patterns.
What is Ablaut? Definitely, a German word.
Some verbs systematically change vowels In their root to some different vowels. There are certain shift patterns. This variation of vowels is called Ablaut.
The same phenomenon exists in English too. For example, drink – drank – drunk. You see how the vowel is changed. The difference in German is only that there are way more verbs that change their vowels in the root, so more that it has become necessary to associate groups of verbs with certain classes, the so called Ablaut classes.
The Ablaut classes are called Ablautreihen in German. There are 7 Ablautreihen in German. I don’t think I should mention that these verbs have to be memorized.
die 1. Ablautreihe
| Infinitiv | Imperfekt | Partizip II | |
| a) | ei | ie | ie |
| bleiben | blieb | geblieben | |
| leihen | lieh | geliehen | |
| b) | ei | i | i |
| beissen | biss | gebissen | |
| schreiten | schritt | geschritten |
die 2. Ablautreihe
| Infinitiv | Imperfekt | Partizip II | |
| a) | ie | о (long) | о (long) |
| bieten | bot | geboten | |
| frieren | froh | gefrohren | |
| b) | ie | о (short) | о (short) |
| gießen | goß | gegossen | |
| schießen | schoß | geschossen |
die 3. Ablautreihe
| Infinitiv | Imperfekt | Partizip II | |
| a) | e | a | o |
| helfen | half | geholfen | |
| sterben | starb | gestorben | |
| b) | i | a | u |
| finden | fand | gefunden | |
| binden | band | gebunden | |
| c) | i | a | o |
| beginnen | begann | begonnen | |
| gewinnen | gewann | gewonnen |
die 4. Ablautreihe
| Infinitiv | Imperfekt | Partizip II | |
| a) | е (long) | а (long) | о (long) |
| empfehlen | empfahl | empfohlen | |
| stehlen | stahl | gestohlen | |
| b) | е (short) | а (long) | о (long) |
| sprechen | sprach | gesprochen |
die 5. Ablautreihe
| Infinitiv | Imperfekt | Partizip II | |
| a) | e | a | e |
| geben | gab | gegeben | |
| lesen | las | gelesen | |
| sehen | sah | gesehen | |
| b) | i | a | e |
| bitten | bat | gebeten | |
| liegen | lag | gelegen | |
| sitzen | saß | gesessen |
die 6. Ablautteihe
| Infinitiv | Imperfekt | Partizip II |
| а | u | a |
| fahren | fuhr | gefahren |
| laden | lud | geladen |
| tragen | trug | getragen |
die 7. Ablautreihe
| Infinitiv | Imperfekt | Partizip II |
| а | ie | a |
| fallen | fiel | gefallen |
| schlafen | schlief | geschlafen |
| lassen | ließ | gelassen |
Of course, there are exceptions even to these patterns, verbs that don’t belong to any of the groups because they have their own, often unpredictable, vowel shifts. However, if you memorize these ones you are all set and will not have any difficulties in building different forms using German verbs.
Yes, I studied some German sometime back, but this one I am learning now is more interesting than the first time. Those things that I failed to understand the first time are now becoming clearer and clearer. I am also interested in the spoken German. My biggest challenge are the vocabulary and pronouns.