Verbtyper

Verbtyper is a term used in grammar to categorize verbs by how they inflect, i.e., how their form changes across tense, mood, person, and number. The classification provides a compact description of verbal patterns in a language and serves as a practical tool for teaching, learning, lexicography, and linguistic analysis.

The most common distinction is between regular (regelrette) verbs and irregular (uregelrette) verbs. Regular verbs follow predictable inflection rules for past tense and participles, while irregular verbs deviate in various ways, with unusual tense forms or participles. Some grammars also subdivide verbs into svage (weak) and stærke (strong), based on how the past tense is formed and what happens to the stem.

Stærke verber typically form the past tense by changing the stem vowel or through internal vowel changes, whereas svage verber form the past tense by adding suffixes and have past participles ending in common endings. These classifications reflect historical sound changes and are used to describe verb behavior across languages with Germanic roots.

Beyond stem-based distinctions, verbtyper are also used to indicate transitivity (transitive versus intransitive), and to distinguish main lexical verbs from auxiliary or modal verbs and from compound verb constructions. In practice, the concept of verbtyper helps learners anticipate conjugation patterns and supports linguistic comparison and research.