Sutton Hoo helmet

Stem Changers

 

In German some verbs have a stem-vowel change in the present tense, more specifically in the du and the er/sie/es-forms. For now, the guide will just give the basic premise of the stem-vowel changing verbs, but you will learn later on that these verbs have further implications concerning different forms and tenses.

There are two basic types of vowel change, based on the vowel that occurs in the infinitive.

a → ä
e → i or ie

Note that there is one more type of stem-vowel change (o to ö), but only one base verb has this change (stoßen "to strike": er stößt).

 

Verbs with a change from a to ä

The first type of vowel change, a to ä, includes the change from au to äu; one such verb in this category is laufen: er läuft.

Present tense of German schlafen
Singular Form Plural Form
ich schlafe wir schlafen
du schläfst ihr schlaft
er/sie/es schläft sie (pl.), Sie schlafen

Present tense of German laufen
Singular Form Plural Form
ich laufe wir laufen
du läufst ihr lauft
er/sie/es läuft sie (pl.), Sie laufen

 

Verbs with a change from e to i or ie

The second type of change, however, is a bit more complicated in that the change cannot be predicted based on any criteria; the change simply has to be memorized on a case-by-case basis.

Present tense of German lesen
Singular Form Plural Form
ich lese wir lesen
du liest ihr lest
er/sie/es liest sie (pl.), Sie lesen

Present tense of German essen
Singular Form Plural Form
ich esse wir essen
du isst ihr esst
er/sie/es isst sie (pl.), Sie essen

 

Stem-changing verbs in Old English

How, then, does Old English even fit into the pattern? Old English, unlike Modern English, had these types of verbs and, moreover, the two basic changes found in German are also found in Old English.

a → æ

The "æ" is the vowel sound in "cat" and is similar phonetically to the German ä.

In the following charts only the third person singular present tense form is given to illustrate the vowel change. The second person singular present tense form simply has the ending st in place of the German t or the Old English þ.

a-stem verbs in Old English and German
English Old English
infinitive
Old English
hē...
German
infinitive
German
er...
"bake" bacan bæ backen bäckt1
"go" faran fæ fahren fährt
"load" hladan *hlæ2 laden lädt
"shake" scacan scæ -3 -3

1The form backt, without the stem change, is also possible.

2This form is not recorded anywhere. The form that occurs is hladeþ, strikingly with no vowel change (Mitchell and Robinson 157, footnote 3).

3There is no known cognate in German.

e → i or ie

The second major type of vowel change in Old English is like its German counterpart in that it cannot be predicted but has to be memorized.

e-stem verbs in Old English and German
English Old English
infinitive
Old English
hē...
German
infinitive
German
er...
"help" helpan hilpþ helfen hilft
"bear" beran bi (gebären) (gebirt)
"break" brecan bri brechen bricht
"steal" stelan sti stehlen stiehlt
"eat" etan itt, iteþ4 essen isst
"speak" sprecan spri sprechen spricht
"throw" weorpan wierpþ werfen wirft
"become" weorþan wie werden wird
"see" sēon sie sehen sieht

4The first form is the regular form, with þ absorbed into the preceding t for ease of pronunciation. The second form has also been recorded but is less frequent.

 

(Old English forms from Mitchell and Robinson 152-158)

 

Exercises and Activities

(Exercises open in a new window)

Stem-vowel Changes in Old English and Modern High German (1)
Stem-vowel Changes in Old English and Modern High German (2)
Present Tense Stem Changes

 


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