German Verbs Reference Guide: Printable PDF Cheat Sheet

German is spoken by over 130 million people and remains one of the most widely used languages in European business, engineering, and academic research, useful well beyond the classroom. It's also a language where conjugation looks deceptively regular at first, then quietly breaks its own pattern the moment a stem-changing or modal verb shows up.

That's exactly why this chart splits its 25 verbs into regular, irregular/stem-changing, and modal. Putting all the regular verbs together lets you see the standard -e, -st, -t, -en, -t, -en ending pattern once and apply it everywhere, while the irregular row sits right next to it so stem changes (sehen → du siehst) stand out as deviations from something you just learned, not isolated exceptions to memorize cold.

What repeats across every verb is the layout: same six-person breakdown and same row structure. What changes is which pattern the verb follows, since modals like können or müssen drop the usual "-e" and "-t" endings entirely in the first- and third-person singular. Seeing all three behaviors on one page, side by side, is what turns "German verbs are irregular" from a vague warning into something you can actually point to.

This chart fits a self-learner or student at A1-A2 who wants one page to check against. It also works for a tutor or teacher who wants a reusable one-pager. It's a weaker fit past A2-B1, once past tense, subjunctive, or a wider verb set become relevant, a fuller grammar reference will serve better than a single-page, present-tense-only chart at that stage.

Compared to other verb charts in the shop, this three-way split (regular / irregular / modal) is specific to German. Our Portuguese and French verb sheets group by ending (-ar/-er/-ir) instead, because that's where those languages' real complexity sits. German's difficulty is less about the infinitive ending and more about which verbs quietly break the standard pattern, so the layout is built around that distinction.

• Instant digital download. Your files are available to download as soon as payment is confirmed, so you can start studying right away; instant download items don't accept returns, exchanges, or cancellations.
• Editable in Canva and PDF.
• 25 core German verbs.
• All six grammatical persons covered. Ich, du, er/sie/es, wir, ihr, sie/Sie, conjugated for every verb.
• A4, single-page format.

The 25 verbs that come up constantly at A1–A2 are already sorted by type.

Instead of memorizing each irregular verb as its own exception, you see it sitting next to the regular pattern it breaks from.

Instead of treating modal verbs as random exceptions, you see they follow their own consistent pattern. Kann, muss, darf all skip the usual endings the same way, once that's visible as a pattern instead of three separate irregularities, a fourth modal verb you haven't studied yet is easier to guess correctly.

German verbs from the Template with English translations:

• Heißen – to be called
• Sein – to be
• Haben – to have
• Werden – to become
• Können – can / to be able to
• Müssen – must / to have to
• Sagen – to say
• Machen – to do / to make
• Geben – to give
• Kommen – to come
• Gehen – to go
• Wissen – to know
• Sehen – to see
• Lassen – to let / to allow
• Stehen – to stand
• Finden – to find
• Bleiben – to stay / to remain
• Liegen – to lie / to be located
• Denken – to think
• Nehmen – to take
• Tun – to do
• Dürfen – may / to be allowed to
• Glauben – to believe
• Halten – to hold / to stop
• Arbeiten – to work