The verb

C10

Words like the following are called verbs.

schreiben, reisen, einkaufen, lesen, verstehen, werden, können, fliegen, einschlafen, lachen

C10A

The predicate

Verbs form the predicate. The predicate is the most important constituent of a sentence, the one on which other sentence constituents depend. It may consist of one or more parts.

simple predicate	complex predicate
Die Kinder spielen im Garten.	Er wird nach der Arbeit einkaufen gehen.

C10B

Verb categories

Because of their ability to form the predicate, verbs are divided in various categories : full, auxiliary, modal, copular (linking) and empty verbs.

	Examples	formation of the predicate
full verbs	Petra arbeitet bei der Post.	form the predicate alone
auxiliary verbs	Wir haben eine leckere Pizza gegessen.	form the predicate together with an infinitive or the past participle (Partizip II)
modal verbs	Ich muss meine Hausaufgaben machen.	form the predicate together with an infinitive
copular (linking) verbs*	Seine Töchter sind sehr nett.	form the predicate together with an adjective or a noun
empty verbs*	Triffst du endlich eine Entscheidung?	form the predicate together with a noun

* The copular (lnking) verbs and empty verbs form the predicate only with nouns and adjectives, not with infinitive verb forms.

C10C

Grammatical categories

Verbs are the only parts of speech that can be conjugated, thus expressing five grammatical categories : person, number, tense, voice and mood.

In the example that follows, the verb "schreibt" expresses these five categories.

Example	person	number	tense	voice	mood
Julia schreibt ihre Diplomarbeit.	3. person	singular	present	active	indicative

Only finite verb forms express all five categories. Non- finite verb forms do not express person, number or mood. These verb forms are not conjugated and include the infinitive, the present participle (Partizip I) and the past partiple (Partizip II).

Furthermore, verbs are divided into irregular (starken) and regular (schwachen) verbs. Regular verbs retain their verb stem vowel unchanged in all tense forms and moods, while the verb stem vowel of irregular verbs changes, at least between the present form and the Präteritum.

	Examples	verb stem vowel
schwaches (regular) verb	spiele, spielte, gespielt	verb stem vowel remains unchanged
starkes (irregular) verb	singe, sang, gesungen	verb stem vowel changes

C10D

Level B1

Valency

Verbs are combined with other sentence constituents like the subject, the object or adverbials. Verbs can determine the obligatory and/or optional arguments of a sentence. This property is called valency.

Examples
Ich	brauche	heute	unbedingt	ein Auto	für den Möbeltransport.
obligatory		optional	optional	obligatory	optional

Depending on the way verbs are combined with other sentence arguments (subject, object), they are classified as follows:

	Examples	Description
personal	ich spiele, du schreibst	subject in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd person
impersonal	es regnet, es schneit	the impersonal es is always the only subject
transitive	ich brauche Hilfe	object in the accusative
intransitive	ich helfe dir	object not in the accusative
reflexive	ich wasche mich	subject and object are identical
reciprocal	wir treffen uns	a mutual relation between multiple subjects and objects is expresssed

C10E

Level A1A2

Separable and inseparable verbs

There are simple and compound verbs. In the German language, it is possible to form a compound verb from a simple one, with the addition of a prefix.

Example
stehen	simple verb
aufstehen, bestehen, entstehen, gestehen	compound verb

Compound verbs can be either separable or inseparable. As a general rule, in separable verbs the prefix is detached from the verb.

Example
Der Lehrer beantwortet die Fragen der Schüler.	inseparable verb
Elena macht die Tür auf.	separable verb

C10F

Semantic categories of verbs

In conclusion, verbs can be categorized in various semantic classes, depending on whether they express state, process, action or activity.

Examples
singen, schlagen, essen, anrufen	action verbs
sterben, erfrieren, wachsen, fallen	process verbs
leben, sein, wohnen, liegen	state verbs