If you want to or are supposed to learn German, you will have to learn German vocabulary, among other things. This may not be much fun, but it is unavoidable if the project is to be successful. Of course, you have the same problem in other languages.
If you want to learn vocabulary in a new language as efficiently as possible, you should bear these two aspects in mind:
– What is the best method for learning vocabulary for you?
– Which selection of vocabulary should you learn first because it is particularly relevant and useful?
Here I’ll deal with the second question – using German verbs as an example.
You won’t find a reliable answer to the question of how many German verbs there are, even on the Internet. What is certain is that there are more than 10,000 verbs in the modern common German language – probably considerably more.
However, this high figure should not discourage you. At S&W Training, we have been researching the frequency of verbs in general German for years. And the results of this research may even encourage you.
Of all German verb forms, the one verb ‘sein’ alone accounts for 12-13%. The three auxiliary verbs ‘sein’, ‘haben’ and ‘werden’ cover around 25% of all verb forms.
And with the ten most important verbs, you already have over 35%. For the 25 most important verbs, the corresponding figure is just under 45%.
You should therefore concentrate fully on these 25 verbs and not only learn their meaning, but also their most important forms.
You can find a list of these 25 most important German verbs here:
https://sw-training.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/312Verben-AllExcel.pdf
Verbs that are not in the top 25 will only bring you a small additional benefit of a maximum of one third of a per cent. This means that they occur on average just once out of 300 verbs.
Verbs that are not in the top 100 only contribute a maximum of 0.10% to the efficiency of your vocabulary.
If you are interested in really efficient vocabulary training, then our S&W German vocabulary booster can certainly help you: