Nuts & Bolts of German: Perfect tense: Some verbs are really strong

Prima, ein Glas Saft. Ich habe Durst.

Ich möchte das Glas Saft trinken.

Das Glas ist leer. Ich habe den Saft getrunken.

trinken is a so-called strong verb. Past participles of strong verbs get the prefix ge- and they end in -en. The stem of the infinitive, however, is very often different from the stem of the past participle, e.g.
infinitive past participle
singen (to sing) gesungen (sung)
gehen (to go) gegangen (gone)
fahren (to eat) gefahren (eaten)
fliegen (to fly) geflogen (flown)

 

Many strong verbs describe daily activities, that's why they are used a lot. So it is important to learn the past participles of strong verbs. It may be of help to know that a lot of these verbs have strong-verb equivalents in English, i.e. if the past participle of the English verb is not regular, there is a good chance that the German equivalent is a strong verb too.

Also, because Germans use these words so often they become entrenched and resist simplification. New verbs in the German language, however, form their past participle like the weak verbs, e.g. chatten -> gechattet, googeln -> gegoogelt, tindern -> getindert

 
Now, it's your turn. Check the list with strong verbs and complete the sentence under the photo on the right-hand side below. Then press [Check] to find out if you were correct. Use the [Hint] button to get a free letter if you need help.

Die Frau isst ein Stück Kuchen.

Die Frau das Stück Kuchen .

         Umlaute & Eszett:          

 

Wörterbuch (LEO) Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS) Wörterbuch (Linguee) Wörterbuch (dict.cc)  Wörterbuch (PONS) Terminologie A - Z

 

Tip: If you don't belong to the lucky few who possess a photographic memory, write down what you learnt while doing this exercise.  

photos:
photos at the beach: © Dore Fischer

photo of woman eating cake: © Helena Lopes: https://unsplash.com/photos/R9-N8kkRdDk
photo of empty plate: © James Coleman: https://unsplash.com/photos/_YLCjMRPwGE