I learned that most infinitives end in -en, with the exception of irregulars like sein. Is the verb erinnern (to remind) also irregular? Are there any other verbs whose infinitive ends in -ern? If so, what are they — regular or irregular?
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1 Answer
The three common infinitive endings of German verbs are -en, -eln, and -ern. As you already wrote, verbs ending in -en are in the far majority. But the other two are also common:
-eln: e.g. handeln, hebeln, grübeln, gründeln, makeln, lächeln, wechseln … "googeln"
-ern: e.g. ackern, ändern, ärgern, blättern, dauern, eiern, feiern, flimmern, rudern, stochern
The complete list would be pages long. To help you making a guess what the infinitive is, these verbs often have a related noun ending in -el or -er.
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That is very good to know, and a well-presented answer. Danke!– ktm5124Commented Sep 25, 2017 at 4:50
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2I did not get the idea of using a related noun to guess the infinitive form of the verb. Ruder --> rudern, okay. As opposed to Grund - gründeln. But ändern? flimmern? stochern? Commented Sep 25, 2017 at 9:01
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2Hentschel, Weydt: Handbuch der deutschen Grammatik, 4. Aufl., S. 127.– JankaCommented Sep 25, 2017 at 11:34