Stem-Changing Verbs
Most German verbs conjugate the same way every time. A handful bend their stem vowel instead, but only in two forms, and always the same two.
Only du and er/sie/es shift
ich, wir, ihr, and sie/Sie keep the plain stem. The vowel only ever changes in the du-form and the er/sie/es-form, and it always changes in both together.
ich, wir, ihr, sie, Sie: all unchanged.
Regular vs. Irregular, Side by Side
Same six forms, one verb per row: only two cells ever move.
| ich | du | er/sie/es | wir | ihr | sie/Sie | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| machen | mache | machst | macht | machen | macht | machen |
| geben | gebe | gibst | gibt | geben | gebt | geben |
Common Verbs, du-Form
The stem-changing du-form for the irregular verbs you'll run into most often.
The Three Change Patterns
Every stem-changing verb falls into one of three vowel shifts:
Quick tip: the ich-, wir-, ihr-, and sie/Sie-forms are always built from the regular stem: only du and er/sie/es ever borrow the changed vowel.
Spot It in Real Sentences
Er isst ein frisches Brot mit Ei.
He eats fresh bread with egg.
Otto sieht die Katze nicht.
Otto doesn't see the cat.
Seine Katze schläft auf dem Sofa.
His cat is sleeping on the sofa.
The Trap: Doubling Up on "-ss"
Because only du and er/sie/es change, it's easy to either apply the shift everywhere (wir gibst) or nowhere (er geben); both are wrong. And when the changed stem already ends in -ss, German doesn't stack a second one on top: essen becomes du isst, not du issst, because the stem itself already absorbs the regular -t ending.