German Verbs

I purchased my first copy of this book back in 1984 before I left on a junior year abroad program from Illinois State University, Normal, IL. Over 20 years later, still in a German speaking country and still using it. The book is very easy to read and locate verbs. If you canot find the verb you are looking for there is a list of words located in the back listing conjugactions of similar words which one can use as a reference. All tenses are conjugated and listed. A very great companion for anybody studying the German language or going abroad to study in Germany.

This book is a handy adjunct to the 501 German Verbs. The 501 German Verbs is excellent but a bit weighty to haul around to classes or to keep handy for those times when you simply need to quickly look up something. German Verbs is by an author who has written many other books on the German language and his experience shows in that what's in this book is exactly what any hopeful speaker of German needs to know and is laid out in exactly the most efficient way to get what you need at speed. If you're studying German, this is an essential companion.

Henry Strutz was an associate professor of languages at State University of New York in Alfred, New York, when he put this book together. The volume I have is rather older, however, this kind of book that doesn't really go out of date. Language does change, but the basics of languages remain steady over several generations in general, and German is no exception. The basic core of the language remains constant, so this book holds up over time. Subsequent printings of this book may add a verb here and drop a verb there (there are over 300 verbs laid out here) but the vast majority will remain the same. I studied German at university almost 25 years ago, and first purchased this book to go along with my studies. While German is fairly standard in the patterns of conjugations for most verbs, German like most languages has exceptions to many rules, including exceptions to some of the most frequently used verbs, such as the verb constructions for to be (English is the same, with this being one of the most difficult verb constructions for non-English speakers to learn). The verb sein (bin, bist, ist, sind, seid, sind) is one of the most important verbs; haben is another important verb, given its 'helping verb' status (true also in English), as it occurs in constructions with other verbs. There are over 300 verbs here, one each to a page, arranged in alphabetical order. Most of the verbs found in eighty percent or more of regular conversation and general writing are to be found here. Each page is laid out in a logical order with the various tenses and structures in good, easy to follow format. There is an introduction with a very basic grammar, a discussion of the verb tenses and their uses, different kinds of conjugations, but this should not be confused with being a German grammar or language study. This introductory material is but the briefest of introductions, intended primarily as a refresher for those who have studied German before, or are studying German concurrently with using this text. Strutz has several indexes in the book, including an English-to-German index of words represented in the text; there is a German-to-English index in the same pattern. I'm trying to recapture my reading German this year, so that I can do some theological research using various German texts in the coming academic year. I find this book invaluable - it is perhaps of more value when one is trying to write than when one is trying to read, but it is still very useful, so much so that the binding on my copy has cracked from use (as with Strutz's other verb conjugation book).

If you're learning German, this is a good book to have with you, anytime you have some dead time -- waiting for a plane, waiting in a doctor's or dentist's office. Waiting for Godot. You'll eventually make your way through the conjugations of over 300 German verbs, from "achten" to "zwingen."