FormStammvokalwechsel i → a → u: Infinitiv, Präteritum, Partizip II (ge- + Stamm + -en)
Meaning and usage
A small group of strong verbs changes its stem vowel from i to a to u across its three forms: trinken, trank, getrunken, singen, sang, gesungen, finden, fand, gefunden, springen, sprang, gesprungen, sinken, sank, gesunken, verschwinden, verschwand, verschwunden, gelingen, gelang, gelungen. You use the a-form for the simple past and the u-form in the perfect with haben or sein.
The typical mistake is mixing up two groups that look alike. Verbs like beginnen, begann, begonnen, schwimmen, schwamm, geschwommen and gewinnen, gewann, gewonnen go i → a → o, so learners produce forms like getronken or geschwummen instead of getrunken and geschwommen. Learn each verb with all three forms together, and note that verschwinden uses sein in the perfect.
Examples 6
Du hast dieses Wasser doch nicht etwa getrunken?
You didn't drink that water, did you?
Sie trank auf der Feier zwei Gläser Wein.
She drank two glasses of wine at the party.
Ich habe aus Versehen aus deinem Glas getrunken.
I drank out of your glass by mistake.
Er fand seinen Schlüssel und öffnete die Tür.
He found his key and opened the door.
Er hat gestern Abend bestimmt zu viel getrunken.
He must have drunk too much last night.
Der ganze Schnee auf dem Berg ist verschwunden.
All the snow on the mountain has disappeared.
Test yourself
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1 Sprachbausteine
Gestern sie zwei Gläser Saft beim Frühstück.
Show answer
Correct answer: trank
The time word Gestern calls for the simple past, and the past stem of trinken is trank-.
- trinkte would be the past form of a weak verb, but trinken is strong and changes its vowel.
- trinkt is the present tense, which does not fit with Gestern.
- getrunken is a participle and cannot stand alone as the verb in a sentence without hat.
In this topic: Strong verbs
- drei Stammformen: gehen, ging, gegangen learn strong verbs as three forms together
- bleiben, blieb, geblieben strong verbs with ei that become ie in the past
- trinken, trank, getrunken strong verbs with i, a, u: trinken, trank, getrunken
- sprechen, sprach, gesprochen strong verbs with a in the past and o in the participle
- geben, gab, gegeben strong verbs with e to a in the past, e in the participle
- fahren, fuhr, gefahren strong verbs with a → u in the past tense
- fliegen, flog, geflogen strong verbs with o in preterite and participle
- schlafen, schlief, geschlafen strong verbs with ie in the preterite
- stehen, stand, gestanden; tun, tat, getan very common strong verbs with irregular vowel changes
Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.