6. Strong/Irregular Verb Patterns 6.3

6.3 Some strong verbs with a stem vowel -a- change this vowel to -ä- in the second and third persons singular.

Verbs that behave this way in the present tense include: anfangen (to begin), backen (to bake), blasen (to blow), braten (to roast), einladen (to drive; to go), fahren (to drive; to go), fallen (to fall), fangen (to catch), gefallen (to please), graben (to dig), halten (to hold; to stop), laden (to load), lassen (to let), raten (to advise), schlafen (to sleep), schlagen (to beat), tragen (to carry; to wear), wachsen (to grow), waschen (to wash).

 

Note in particular the present tense of the following strong verbs whose infinitive has a stem in -ad- (einladen, laden) and -at- (braten, halten, raten):