Verbs in Pennsylvania Dutch require some memorizing of the different conjugation rules, but it's no different than any other language in that regard (and probably more consistent than English).

• Normal Verb Endings
• Conjugations of to be and helping verbs (auxiliaries)
• Conjugations of other example verbs
• Verbs - movement
• Verbs - doing things
• Verbs - mental/emotions
• Verbs - communication
• Verbs - change of condition
• Verbs - other senses
• Verbs - other
• Common Seperable Prefixes
• Verbs that Use sei for Past Participle

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		I	you	he/she/it	we/they	you
Inf.	PP	ich	du	er/sie/es	mir/sie	dihr	English	Notes
sei	gwest	bin	bischt	iss	sin	seid	to be
brauche	gebraucht	brauch	brauchscht	brauch	brauche	braucht	need to
darrefe	gedarreft	darref	darrefscht	darref	darrefe	darreft	can (allowed)
duh	geduh	duh	duhscht	dutt	duhne	dutt	to do
hawwe	ghatt	hab	hoscht	hot	hen	hett	have	used for PP
kenne	kennt	kann	kannscht	kann	kenne	kennt	can (able)
meege	gemeecht	maag	maagscht	maag	meege	meecht	may, care to
misse	gemusst	muss	musscht	muss	misse	misst	must
solle	gsott	soll	sollscht	soll	solle	sott	should	also selle
warre	geworre *	wa	wascht	watt	warre	warret	to become, will
waare		waar	waarscht	waar	waare	waart	was	simple past of "to be"
wolle	gewollt	will	witt	will	wolle	wott	want to	also welle

Note - PP = "Past Participle"
Note - Inf = "Infinitive"

I	you	he/she/it	we/they	you
ich	du	er/sie/es	mir/sie	dihr	English	Notes
breicht	breichscht	breicht	breichde	breicht	would need to
darreft	darrefscht	darreft	darrefde	darreft	would be allowed
deet	deetscht	deet	deede	deet	would do
hett	hettscht	hett	hedde	hett	would have	trans. only
kennt	kenntscht	kennt	kennde	kennt	would be able
meecht	meechscht	meecht	meechde	meecht	would care to
misst	misscht	misst	missde	misst	would have to
sott	sottscht	sott	sotte	sott	would have to be	also sett
waer	waerscht	waer	waere	waert	would be	intrans.
wott	wott	wott	wotte	wott	would want to	also wett

Note that you will not normally find these subjunctive forms listed in PG dictionaries, only in PG grammar books.

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		I	you	he/she/it	we/they	you
Inf	PP	ich	du	er/sie/es	mir/sie	dihr	English	Notes
andwadde	geandwatt	andwatt	andwattscht	andwatt	andwadde	andwatt	to answer	6) typical of -dd
bhalde	bhalde	bhald	bhaldscht	bhaldt	bhalde	bhaldt	to keep	7) typical of -d
follye	gfolligt *	follig	folligscht	folligt	follye	folligt	to obey, follow	8) typical of -y
griege	grickt	grick	grickscht	grickt	griegge	grickt	to get/obtain
geh	gange *	geh	gehscht	geht	gehne	geht	to go	5) typical of -eh
kenne	kennt	kenn	kennscht	kennt	kenne	kennt	to be acquanted with	1) typical of others
kumme	kumme *	kumm	kummscht	kummt	kumme	kummt	to come
leigge	gelegge	lei	leischt	leit	leige	leit	to lie/recline
rechle	gerechelt	rechel	rechelscht	rechelt	rechle	rechelt	to calculate	4) typical of -le
schreiwe	gschriwwe	schreib	schreibscht	schreibt	schreiwe	schreibt	to write	3) typical of -we
schwetze	gschwetzt	schwetz	schwetscht	schwetzt	schwetze	schwetzt	to speak	2) typical of -s,-ss,-sch,-z
wisse	gwisst	weess	weescht	weess	wisse	wisst	to know a fact

Note - for some consistency, I attempted to retain the spelling style of Prof. Haag.
Note - there are alternate versions of second person plural that are not shown here.

The conjugation pattern numbers are used in the following tables.  Click on the link under "Conj. Pattern" to find the corresponding conjugation  in the preceding table.

I	you	he/she/it	we/they	you
ich	du	er/sie/es	mir/sie	dihr	English	Notes
geebt	geebscht	geebt	geebde	geebt	would give
gingt	gingscht	gingt	gingde	gingt	would go	also gengt
greecht	greechscht	greecht	greechde	greecht	would get
keemt	keemtscht	keemt	keemde	keemt	would come
wisst	wisscht	wisst	wissde	wisst	would know

Note that you will not normally find these subjunctive forms listed in PG dictionaries, only in PG grammar books.

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Infinitive	PP	English	Conj. Pattern
geh	gange *	to go	5
bleiwe	gebliwwe *	to stay	3
renne	gerennt *	to run	1
laafe	geloffe *	to walk	1
faahre	gfaahre *	to drive, ride	1
hocke	ghockt	to sit	1
yucke	geyuckt	to fidget, jerk	1
schteh	gschtanne	to stand	5
bringe	gebrocht	to bring	1
schpringe	gschprunge *	to jump	1
schteige	gschtigge	to climb	1
fange	gfange	to catch	1
falle	gfalle *	to fall	1
schwimme	gschwumme *	to swim	1
fliege	gflogge *	to fly	1

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Infinitive	PP	English	Conj. Pattern
schmeise	gschmisse	to throw	2
schlagge	gschlaage	to hit	1
kaafe	kaaft	to buy	1
verkaafe	verkaaft	to sell	1
bezaahle	bezaalt	to pay	1
schpende	gschpendt	to spend	7
schpiele	gschpielt	to play	1
farze	gfarzt	to fart	2
butze	gebutzt	to clean	2
versuddle	versuddlet	to soil	4
mache	gemacht	to make/do	1
gewwe	gewwe	to give	3
griege	grickt	to get	-
nemme	genumme	to take	1
yuuse	gyuust	to use	2
schmutze	gschmutzt	to kiss, lubricate	2
koche	kocht	to cook	1
schloofe	gschloofe	to sleep	1
helfe **	gholfe	to help	1

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Infinitive	PP	English	Conj. Pattern
denke	gedenkt	to think	1
lanne	glannt	to learn	1
liewe	geliebt	to love	2
gleiche	gegliche	to like	1
lache	gelacht	to laugh	1
heile	gheilt	to cry	1
meene	gemeent	to mean	1
verschteh	verschtanne	to understand	4
draue **	gedraut	to trust	1
browiere	browiert	to try	1
hoffe	ghofft	to hope	1

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Infinitive	PP	English	Conj. Pattern
lese	gelese	to read	2
schreiwe	gschriwwe	to write	3
schwetze	gschwetzt	to speak	2
saage	gsaat	to say	1
greische	gegrische	to yell, scream	2
frooge	gfroogt	to ask	1
andwadde	geandwatt	to answer	6
hariche	gharicht	to listen	1
schicke	gschickt	to send	1
blaffe	geblafft	to bark	1
gauze	gegautzt	to bark	2

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Infinitive	PP	English	Conj. Pattern
roschde	geroscht *	to rust	1
waxe	gewachst *	to grow	1
welke	gwelkt *	to wither	1
schtarewe	gschtarewe *	to die	1

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Infinitive	PP	English	Conj. Pattern
esse	gesse	to eat (people)	2
fresse	gfresse	to eat (animals)	2
drinke	gedrunke	to drink	1
gucke	geguckt	to look	1
sehne	gsehne	to see	1
heere	gheert	to hear	1
schtinke	gschtunke	to stink	1

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Infinitive	PP	English	Conj. Pattern
lewe	gelebt	to live	3
finne	gfunne	to find	1
verliere	verlore	to loose	1

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English	away from speaker	toward speaker
in	nei	rei
out	naus	raus
up/upon	nuff	ruff
down	nunner	runner
over	niwwer	riwwer
here/there	hie (there, away)	haer (here, toward)

PG	English
aa	on
ab	away/off/from
aus	out
darich	through
ei	in
fatt	away
los	loose
mit	with/along
nidder	down
uff	up/upon
um	around
verbei	past
vor	before
wedder	against
weg (weck)	away
zamme	together
zerick	back
zu	closed/to

You will encounter these seperable prefixes in books and dictionaries and in many cases they are shown with a slash "/" character (ex, zerick/kumme, to come back).  There are rules that govern the way these adverbs are connected to verbs.  In many cases, they have the meaning shown above, and in others, the new word takes on an entirely different meaning (aa/fange, to start).

A short explanation is that when seperable prefixes are used, the stem of the verb (the part after the slash) is placed in the normal verb position, but the prefix (adverb) is placed at the end of the sentence.  If helping verbs are used, the prefix/verb combination is placed at the end.  For the past participle, the form is still prefix/verb, and the verb stem is the same as if there were no prefix.

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* There is a certain tension between Pennsylvania Dutch and English in that many PG verbs use the helping verb sei (to be) to form the past tense where it would feel awkward to in English..  This is as if saying in English "I was gone to the store" vs. the more natural "I had gone to the store".  PG verbs use the helping verb sei if they have no direct object (ie, intransitive) and they show a change of position or condition.  To highlight this fact, verbs shown with an asterisk (*) above indicate these verbs use sei to form their past tense.

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** These verbs always use the dative case for objects

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