Learn the top 25 verbs
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| Alisa: Hi this is Alisa. Welcome to top 25 German verbs. Let’s get started. [sein] - “be”, “to be”. It is little complicated because [Ich bin] is a version of [sein] but because it’s [Ich bin] it changes. So it’s kind of like “to be” but then in English, it would be the same, “I am Alisa” - [Ich bin Alisa.] [Ich bin ab morgen im Urlaub.] - “I am going to be on vacation tomorrow.” Hawaii... I wish! |
| [haben] - “have”. [Ich habe mir heute sehr viel vorgenommen.] - “I have planned a lot for today.” [tun] - “do”. [tun] means “to do”. [tun] is used in a very casual way. [Tust du mir den Gefallen und machst heute die Küche sauber?] - “Can you do me the favor and clean the kitchen.” [sagen] - “to say”. [Ich sage sehr oft “okay”.] - “I say “okay” a lot.” [Meine Kollegen sagen, dass ich sehr gut arbeite.] - “My colleagues say that I work very good.” |
| [bekommen] - “get”. [Ich habe heute mein Gehalt bekommen.] - “I got my paycheck today.” |
| [machen] - “make”. For example [Meine Mutter macht heute einen Kuchen.] - “My mother is making a cake” and if you never tried German cake, it’s really good. I am going to put it in the oven…. and that’s done and then this is going to go with cream. |
| [gehen] - “go”. [Gehen] literally means “to go” or “walk”. [Ich gehe gerne mit meinem Hund spazieren.] - “I like to go and walk with my dog.” [Gehst du heute zum Volleyball?] - “Are you going to volleyball today?” |
| [wissen] - “to know”. [Wer, Weiß, Was] - the three Ws. - “Who knows...” In English, it’s not the W but in German - “who knows what”. Oh and it’s like WWW. For example, [Weißt du wieviel Uhr es ist? - Ja, ich weiß es.] - “Do you know what time is it? - Yes I know.” |
| [nehmen] - “take”. [Ich nehme einen Regenschirm mit.] - “I take the umbrella with me.” [Ich nehme an du hast heute viel zu tun.] In this case, [Ich nehme an] means “I assume you have a lot to do today”. So it means something totally different because of the whole sentence but that’s really the magic. |
| [sehen] - “to see”, literally “to see with your eyes”. [Ich sehe mir heute einen Film an.] - “I am going to see a movie today.” So in this case, it means “to see a movie”. [Ich sehe das es dir heute viel besser geht.] - “I see that you are doing much better today.” [kommen] - “come”. [Heute Abend kommt meine Freundin zu Besuch. ] - “Tonight, my friend is coming to visit”. [Ich komme gleich.] is actually very casual thing to say. It means, oh “I am going to be there in a second” or “I am coming now” or you can write it as a message or when you are on your way to somewhere. |
| [denken] - “think”. [Ich denke das dieses Video sehr hilfreich ist.] - “I think this video is very helpful.” |
| [gucken] - “look”. [gucken] means “to look” and it’s kind of used between friends and more young people and it’s not very formal. It’s more casual. [Ich gucke mir gerne den Himmel an.] - “I like to look at the sky.” |
| [möchten] - “want”. [Ich möchte im Sommer an den Strand.] - “I want to go to the beach in summer.” [Die Blumen möchten Wasser und brauchen Sonne.] - “The flowers want water and need sunlight.” |
| [geben] - “give”. [Meine Freundin gibt mir heute ihre CD's.] - “My friend is giving me CDs today.” [Ich gebe jetzt auf.] - “I am going to give up.” |
| [können] - “be able to”. It means “be able to” or “can”. [Ich kann mehrere Sprachen sprechen.] - “I am able to speak different languages.” It really means that you are capable or you can do something. [Ich kann Kleidung designen.] - “I am able to design clothes.” |
| [finden] - “find”. [Ich finde] means when you are expressing your feelings or when you are expressing something you want to say to someone or [finden] means really “find something”. So as you guys know but Easter is really big in Germany and... [Die Kinder finden Ostereier im Garten.] - “The kids find Easter eggs in the garden.” |
| [erzählen] - “tell”. [Immer wenn ich aus dem Urlaub zurück komme, erzähle ich die aufregendsten Geschichten.] - “When I come back from vacation, I always have the most amazing stories.” [Als Kind hat meine Mutter mir Märchen erzählt.] - “As a kid, my mom used to tell me fairy tales.” The most famous fairy tales [Märchen] are from the Grimm Brothers and they are actually German and I really used to love [Rotkäppchen] - it’s “Red Riding Hood”. |
| [fragen] - “ask”. When you are asking your teacher for example.. [Hallo Herr Müller ich habe eine Frage.] - “Hello Mr. Müller I have a question... or...can I ask a question?” |
| [arbeiten] - “work”. [Gerade arbeite ich an einem Video für euch.] - “Right now, I am working on a video for you guys.” [Die Bauarbeiter arbeiten an der Straße.] - “The construction workers are working on the street.” |
| [scheinen] - “seem”. [scheinen] has actually two different meanings. So one is “seem” but one is actually “to shine”. You are in a good mood…! [Wenn ich gut drauf bin, dann scheine ich von innen.] - “When I am in a good mood and I shine from the inside” |
| [scheinen] - “seem”. [Es scheint mir so, als wäre Katrin gut drauf.] - “It seems like Katrin is in a good mood.” |
| [fühlen] - “feel”. [Ich fühle mich heute sehr gut.] - “Today I feel really good.” If you are buying a carpet and you say.. [Ich fühle den Teppich und er fühlt sich sehr weich an.] - “I feel the carpet and it feels really soft” and also [Ich fühle die Musik.] - “I feel the music.” Yeah lately I actually have been listening to a lot of music and so I have been in a good mood. I think music makes you feel really good. |
| [versuchen] - “try”. This one is interesting because in [versuchen] there is also the verb [suchen] which means “to search”. [Ich versuche jedes Jahr etwas neues zu lernen.] - “I try to learn something new every year.”...either if it’s an instrument or reading something new and something that I’ve never read before. I think it’s important to challenge yourself. |
| [essen] - “eat”. Yeah [Gleich gehe ich zum Mittagessen.] - “Soon I am going to go eat lunch.” So eat is really “eating”. [glauben] - “believe”. [Ich glaube Karl hat heute eine gute Arbeit geleistet.] - “I believe that Carl did a good job today.” |
| Thank you for watching the top 25 German verbs. Don’t forget to subscribe and I hope to see you soon. Bye. |
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