sprechen
to speak
Ranks #144 by frequency — outside the core hundred, but common in everyday life.
- Type
- verb
- Frequency rank
- #144
- Per million words
- 555
In a sentence
Ich spreche Deutsch.I speak German.
Conjugation
Present tense of sprechen, plus the forms you need to talk about the past.
| ich — I | spreche |
|---|---|
| du — you | sprichst |
| er/sie/es — he / she / it | spricht |
| wir — we | sprechen |
| ihr — you (plural) | sprecht |
| sie — they | sprechen |
| Perfect | hat gesprochen |
| Simple past | sprach |
Forms its perfect tense with haben.
sprechen is a stem-changing verb: the vowel shifts in the du and er/sie/es forms. Those two are worth memorising separately.
Related words
Other words of the same kind, at nearby frequency:
- nehmen to take
- verstehen to understand
- wissen to know (a fact)
- essen to eat
- denken to think
- trinken to drink
Practise this word
sprechen is in the free trainer along with the rest of the list — flashcards, multiple choice, listening practice and spaced review. No account needed.