The Most Difficult Aspects of Learning German
Posted on February 14, 2010
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One of the most difficult aspects of learning German is conjugating German verbs. Why do people have so much difficulty with German verbs?
Regular German verbs play nicely. The stem of the verb “machen” (to make) is “mach” – suffixes are added to fit various pronouns, so you can say “ich mache” (I make), “er macht” (he makes), and so forth. When a verb changes tense, it really becomes identifiable as a weak verb – if we were to say “he made,” we simply add the predictable suffix “te” to the unchanging stem “mach,” and we have “er machte.”
It’s possible that irregular German verbs are said to be strong because they have a mind of their own, plowing forth without any consideration for linguistic rules or conventions. In the irregular German verb “helfen” (to help), it seems like the stem “helf” should become “helft” when combined with the pronoun “er” – but it becomes “hilft” instead. If the German verb “helfen” were regular, we could take the stem “helf” and add “te” to it and produce “er helfte,” but no! The correct way to say “he helped” is “er half.”
There is also a third German verb class which is neither weak nor strong, regular nor irregular, but mixed – sharing characteristics of both other types. Since irregular German verbs tend to be so common and there are only a finite number of them, you will easily be able to master them with some good old-fashioned rote memorization.
When approaching the study of German verbs, it’s important to remember to relax. No two students learn exactly the same way, so experiment until you find the exact combination of study techniques that best imprints those German verbs into your brain.
If you learn best by reading, you’re probably a visual learner, and you may want to try putting your German verb forms on flash cards and asking a friend to test you on them. Many students find the mere act of writing words on paper combined with reading those words over to themselves serves as a powerful visual trigger, and this should help you master those quirky German verbs.
Many people learn best by hearing or speaking; if that describes you, try saying “Ich gebe, du gibst, er gibt, wir geben, ihr gebt, sie geben” very clearly into your recording device, playing it back, and listening to the sound of your words, sensing the change in sound when you pronounce the irregular German verb forms.
The act of engaging with a computer in a style very reminiscent of video games enables kinesthetic learners to master irregular German verbs in a way that feels more natural to them.
Set a goal of learning two new German verbs per session, as well as reviewing the ones learned in previous sessions. When you feel confident that you can conjugate the irregular German verbs, ask a fellow German student to test your new-found knowledge.
The key to mastering irregular German verbs is repetition, and only you will know whether that entails writing the same words repeatedly, re-reading them, speaking them, or listening to them.
Learning German verbs is easy with the Rocket German MegaVerbs software game. Get your copy of Rocket German now and learn to speak and understand German fast.
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