Subscribe to our newsletter. More verbs on our 50 Common German Verbs page. Once you learn the pattern for one German verb, you know how most German verbs are conjugated. This is the form of the verb you find in a German dictionary. If you don't know how to conjugate verbs correctly it means your German will sound strange to people who understand the language.
German verbs require more different endings than English verbs.
Observe that the verb spielen has a different ending in each of the examples. If you want to sound intelligent in German, you need to learn when to use which ending. We have also included a helpful list of some representative common stem-changing verbs. More verbs on our 50 Common German Verbs page. I play Ich spiele gern Basketball.