French & German Comparative Tutorial III: Learn Two Languages Simultaneously

Rocket French | Rocket German

Common Verbs

Many of the most commonly used verbs in both French and German are irregular.

Regular Verbs: Present and Past Tense

In French, there are three types of verbs, depending on their endings: -er, -ir and -re. All verbs in German end in -en or -n. To conjugate verbs in the present tense, remove the endings and add the following new endings. The present tense in French and German can translate as either the simple present, the present continuous, or the emphatic present, i.e. I run, I am running, I do run.

For French verbs that begin with a vowel, such as apprendre, je becomes j' so that subject and verb can be connected as one word (to faciliate pronunciation): j'apprends. It is also common for tu to become t' in informal speech, but not in formal writing: t'apprends. In informal German, the -e of the ich form is often left off as well so that there is one fewer syllable: ich hab'

For the past (imperfect) tense, all regular French verbs use the same endings. All regular German verbs use the same endings as well. This past tense translates as either the simple past, the past continuous, or used to + infinitive, i.e. I ran, I was running, I used to run. (There is another past tense in French, called the passé simple - simple past, that is rarely used in speech, but still commonly used in literature. It will appear later.)

Spelling Changes in the Present Tense

There are several spelling changes in conjugated verbs in the present tense, in both French and German. Usually these changes are made to correlate with the pronunciation of the verb.

French: Many verbs that end in -ir are conjugated with a different set of endings than those above, while some other -ir verbs are conjugated as if they were -er verbs. Verb stems that end in -c must use a cedilla (ç) under the c to make it soft in the nous form. Verb stems ending in -ge lose the final e before the endings in the nous and vous forms. Some verbs add an accent grave to an e (è) or change an accent aigu to an accent grave before the ending; verbs ending in -yer change the y to i; and some verbs double their consonant in all forms but nous and vous.

German: For the du and er/sie/es forms only, some verbs change their stem vowel: a to ä, au to äu, e to ie, e to i. Verb stems ending in -d or -t add an extra -e before the regular endings for the du, er/sie/es and ihr forms. Verb stems ending in s, z, or ß only add -t for the du form. Verbs that end in -n instead of -en only add -n for the wir and sie/Sie forms. Verbs that end in -eln or -ern only -n for the wir and sie/Sie forms and they can drop the e before -ln or -rn in the ich form.

Irregular Verb Stems in the Past Tense

French: Only one French verb is irregular in the past (imperfect) tense: être. Its stem becomes ét- for the past tense, but it still uses the regular past tense endings. In addition, some of the spelling changes in the present tense also occur in the past tense (for verb stems ending in -c and -g).

German: There are several irregular past stems in German. Similar to the irregular verbs in English, some of these stems cannot be predicted and must be memorized. These irregular verb stems also use slightly different endings than the regular verbs.

Irregular Endings in Past Tense

Irregular Stems in the Past Tense

Haben, werden, wissen, and a group of verbs called the "mixed verbs" all have irregular stems in the past tense, but they still use the regular endings!

Some of the modal verbs in German follow the rules for regular stem + regular ending, while others use an irregular stem + regular ending.

Pronominal / Reflexive Verbs

Pronominal verbs are also called reflexive verbs, and they require an extra pronoun in the conjugations. These verbs reflect actions that are done to the subject (the subject and object refer to the same person), so many of them involve the body. Other verbs are considered pronominal simply for grammatical reasons. Reflexive verbs are rare in English, so many times the reflexive pronoun in French or German is not translated into English. For verbs that show reciprocal actions, English tends to use each other.

The main difference between the languages is that French places the reflexive pronoun BEFORE the conjugated verb, while German places it AFTER.

Il se lave. / Er wäscht sich. He washes (himself).
Je me réjouis de te voir. / Ich freue mich, dich su zehen. I'm happy to see you.

Another difference is the use of dative reflexive pronouns in German (mir and dir instead of mich and dich). If a sentence already has an object in the accusative case (a direct object), then the reflexive pronoun in German must be in the dative case (an indirect object).

Je me lave les cheveux. / Ich wasche mir die Haare. I'm washing my hair.

Reflexive Verbs in French & German
(Not all verbs that are reflexive in French are reflexive in German and vice versa!)

On / Man

To express an unspecific agent (such as one, you, they, or people in general in English), use on in French and man in German as the subject pronoun. These subjects can also be used as a way to avoid the passive mood, though it is much more common in French than in German.

On parle espagnol. / Man spricht Spanisch. We speak Spanish. / Spanish is spoken.

Plaire / Gefallen & Manquer / Fehlen

Plaire and gefallen mean to like (literally: to be pleasing to) and manquer and fehlen mean to miss (literally: to be missing to), but the word order is the opposite of English. The English subject becomes the indirect object in French and German, while the English object becomes the subject. Remember that French pronouns are placed BEFORE the conjugated verb, while they are placed AFTER in German.

Ça me plaît. / Das gefällt mir. I like it. (literally: It is pleasing to me.)
Ses devoirs ne lui plaisent pas ? / Die Hausaufgaben gefallen ihm nicht? He doesn't like his homework? (literally: His homework doesn't please him?)
Tu me manques. / Du fehlst mir. I miss you. (literally: You are missing to me.)
Ils me manquent. / Sie fehlen mir. I miss them. (literally: They are missing to me.)

Separable & Inseparable Prefixes in German

A lot of German verbs include prefixes, which may or may not separate from the base infinitive when conjugated. Inseparable prefixes are quite easy to deal with because they always remain attached to the root of the verb. They are essentially unstressed syllables. It is only in the perfect tenses that you need to be aware of inseparable prefixes.

Separable prefixes, on the other hand, have different rules for verb tenses and subordinating clauses, which will be expanded on below. The main idea is that the separable prefix is removed from the root verb and placed at the very end of the clause or sentence in the present tense in simple sentences. This is somewhat similar to phrasal verbs in English that include a preposition or adverb, such as take out, look over, put down, etc. Most separable prefixes in German are also prepositions, so they should look familiar. (Separable prefix verbs in German don't always translate as phrasal verbs in English though.)

German Verbs with Separable Prefixes

Sie macht das Fenster auf. She opens the window.
Er zieht sich an. He gets dressed.

Unter and über can function as separable prefixes, but they are much more commonly used as inseparable prefixes. When prefixes are stressed, they are separable; when they are not stressed, they are inseparable. The stress on the following verbs in not on the prefix, so they are all inseparable: unterhalten - to entertain, unternehmen - to undertake, überholen - to overtake, and übersetzen - to translate.

Imperative / Commands

Forming commands is quite easy if you remember the present tense conjugations of verbs. Only a few of the forms change for the command (in blue). Negative commands follow the regular word order rules of placing ne...pas around the verb in French (or just pas after in informal French) and nicht after the verb in German.

The informal/singular you loses its ending for the command in both languages (no -s and no -st), however, the -s reappears in French with object pronouns (va becomes vas-y). German verbs that require an umlaut in the informal you form do not use it in the command (laüfst becames lauf!), but verbs that change e to i or ie do use this form in the command (gibst becomes gib!). The we/let's and formal you add wir and Sie, respectively, after the verb in German. Notice that all German commands are written with exclamation points, and French requires a hypen between the command and object.

Prend-le ! / Nimm es! Take it!
Dis-moi ! / Sag mir! Tell me!
Ne parlez pas ! / Sprecht nicht! Don't speak!

Irregular Commands

Pronominal verbs as commands have the same verb + pronoun word order if they are affirmative; but in the negative, French moves the pronoun before the verb, while German keeps it after.

Asseyons-nous ! / Setzen wir uns! Let's sit down!
Ne vous fâchez pas ! / Ärgern Sie sich nicht! Don't get angry!

Subordinating Conjunctions

A subordinating conjunction that begins a dependent clause depends on the rest of the sentence to make sense. For example, "because I was sick" does not make sense on its own and it requires another clause (the independent clause): I went home because I was sick. Notice that "I went home" can exist on its own, which is why it is called independent. In French and German, just as in English, either the independent or dependent clause can begin the sentence; however, the word order must change in German.

For sentences of type 1) independent clause, + subordinating conjunction + dependent clause: The conjugated verb in the dependent clause goes to the very end - even after the infinitive.
For sentences of type 2) subordinating conjunction + dependent clause, + independent clause: The conjugated verb is first in the independent clause, followed by the subject.

1. Sie geht in die Stadt, weil sie ein Geschenk kaufen will. She's going into the city because she wants to buy a present.
2. Weil sie ein Geschenk kaufen will, geht sie in die Stadt. Because she wants to buy a present, she's going into the city.

Verbs with separable prefixes reattach the prefix when they are in dependent clauses:

Er kommt früh nach Hause zurück. He'll come back home early. [independent clause]
Ich denke, dass er früh nach Hause zurückkommt. I think that he'll come back home early. [dependent clause]