German Verbs: Gehen (To Go) and Nehmen (To Take)

These two German verbs are absolute essentials that you'll use in everyday conversations. Think about how often you say "I go" or "I take" in English - it's the same in German!

Gehen (to go) follows a fairly regular pattern: ich gehe (I go), du gehst (you go), er/sie/es geht $he/she/it goes$. The plural forms are wir gehen (we go), ihr geht (you all go), and sie gehen (they go). Notice how the verb endings change depending on who's doing the action.

Nehmen (to take) is trickier because it's an irregular verb. Watch out for the vowel changes: ich nehme (I take), but du nimmst (you take) and er/sie/es nimmt $he/she/it takes$. The plural forms go back to the regular pattern: wir nehmen, ihr nehmt, sie nehmen.

Both verbs have imperative forms for giving commands. For "gehen": Geh! (Go!), Gehen wir! (Let's go!), Geht! (You all go!). For "nehmen": Nimm! (Take!), Nehmen wir! (Let's take!), Nehmt! (You all take!). The polite forms always use "Sie" with the infinitive form.

Quick Tip: The irregular vowel changes in "nehmen" (e→i) only happen in the du, er, sie, es forms - everywhere else it's regular!