Pennsylvania German

Conjugate Verbs

Introduction

Pennsylvania German is a West Central German variety spoken in North America. It is traditionally the language of the Pennsylvania Dutch community.

Pennsylvania German or Pennsylvania Dutch is a variety of Palatine German spoken by the Pennsylvania Dutch, including the Amish, Mennonites, Fancy Dutch, and other related groups in the United States and Canada. There are approximately 300,000 native speakers of Pennsylvania German in the United States and Canada.

Dialects

There are 7 main dialects of Pennsylvania German.

1. Lancaster Area Dialects: Berks, Center, Clinton, Dauphin, southeastern Lebanon, Lancaster, southwestern Monroe, Northumberland, Schuylkill, Snyder, and Union Counties
2. Northampton Area Dialects: Eastern Lehigh, Northampton, and eastern Montgomery Counties
3. Carbon Area Dialects: Carbon and northern Montgomery Counties
4. Lebanon/Mifflin Area Dialects: Central Lebanon and Mifflin Counties
5. Lehigh Area Dialects: Northwestern Lehigh County
6. York Area Dialect: Southeastern York County
7. Lehigh Regional Dialect: Lehigh and immediately adjoining counties

The verb

All tenses, except the present, are formed periphrastically with one or more auxiliary verbs and the infinitive or past past participle of the main verb.

The personal pronouns and verbal endings differ in second person plural, depending on the dialect. See the main dialects in previous section.

Irregular verb: sei 'to be'

ich	bin
du	bischt
er, sie, es	iss
mer	sin
ihr	sint
sie	sin

Regular verb: gleiche 'to like'

ich	gleich
du	gleichscht
er, sie, es	gleicht
mer	gleiche
ihr	gleicht
sie	gleiche

Verblist

aadreffe, aaduh, aafange, aafingre, aahawwe, aalache, aarufe, aatme, abkoche, angle, aussehne, baahne, backe, baddere, balwiere, barye, baue, bauere, bedaerfe, bede, begreife, beile, bewillkumme, bezaahle, bidde, biede, binne, blaffe, blaudre, bleiwe, blose, bluge, bohne, bosse, brauche, breche, brenne, briehe, bringe, brockle, brode, browiere, brumme, brutzle, daafe, daerfe, deede, denke, dotmache, draame, drede, dreiwe, drenke, drinke, dufde, duh, effne, eiwindre, ennere, erwaarde, esse, faahre, falle, fange, farichde, fatze, fechde, feese, fege, ficke, fiedre, fiehle, fille, fingre, finne, folye, froge, gauze, geh, geize, gewwe, giesse, gilbse, glaawe, gleddere, gleiche, glewe, graase, greiziche, griege, gucke, hariche, hasse, hawwe, heere, heiere, hewe, hexe, hinnere, hocke, hole, hupse, hure, huuschde, iwwersetze, kaafe, kaue, kehre, kenne, kisse, koche, koschde, kumme, laade, laafe, laawe, lange, lauere, lauschdere, lausche, lechle, lege, lehne, leie, lese, lewe, liege, liewe, losse, lutsche, mache, madde, maehe, maunse, meege, meene, mehne, melke, misse, naehe, neide, nemme, nenne, newwle, nexe, niese, petze, reche, redde, reeschde, reggere, reide, reischneee, rode, rooschde, rumschpringe, rumspringe, runnermache, russle, saage, saege, saehe, salse, schadde, schaerfe, schaffe, schaufle, scheede, scheine, scheisse, scheppe, schidde, schiesse, schiewe, schliesse, schlofe, schlucke, schmacke, schmatze, schmecke, schmeisse, schmoke, schmore, schmunsle, schnaufe, schneee, schneide, schockle, schpaare, schpaue, schpautze, schpiele, schpiere, schpringe, schpucke, schpure, schreiwe, schtaerewe, schtarewe, schteh, schteige, schtelle, schtill, schtille, schtoosse, schtrutze, schweige, schwetze, schwimme, seefe, segne, sehne, sei, setze, singe, solle, suche, suddle, tschaae, tschumpe, verkaafe, verlehne, verliere, verraetze, verschpreche, verschteh, waade, waarde, waere, waerre, ware, wesche, wessre, wewe, windere, winsche, wolle, wuhne, yaemere, yohle, yubele, zaehle, ziege, zumache, zuschneee, zwarwle.