Stamformen

Stamformen, or stem forms, is a linguistic term used to describe the core verb forms from which all inflected forms of a verb are derived. A verb’s stamformen form a small paradigm that helps explain how the verb changes across tenses, moods and voices. The exact set of stamformen varies by language, but in many Germanic languages it includes at least the infinitive, one or more present tense stems, the past tense stem, and the past participle stem.

In languages with stem changes or vowel alternations, stamformen illustrate the regular patterns the verb follows when forming different tenses. For example, in German, the strong verb sing has stamformen infinitive singen, past stem sang, and past participle gesungen, showing how the vowel changes and endings interact. The weak verb machen has infinitive machen, present stem mach-, past stem machte, and past participle gemacht, illustrating a more regular pattern with endings.

Stamformen are practical for dictionaries, grammar descriptions, and language learning because they organize a verb’s conjugation around a compact set of base forms. Learners can derive other forms from the stamformen, and computational linguistics use them to model verb inflection in natural language processing. While the concept is most explicit in languages with rich inflection, it is a general tool for understanding how verbs supply the roots for all their conjugated forms.