backen conjugated
I'm working on learning the different tenses and moods, and am having trouble with conjugating "backen" because I am seeing two different ways for the Präsens und Präteritum tenses.

For Präsens I see: (1) ich backe, du backst, er backt, wir backen, ihr backt, sie backen, and also (2) ich backe, du bäckst, er bäckt, wir backen, ihr backt, sie backen.

and for Präteritum I see (1) ich backte, du backtest, er backte, wir backten, ihr backtet, sie backten, and (2) ich buk, du bukest, er buk, wir buken, ihr buket, wir buken.

Are all of these right or is only one of them right? I'm a little confused because I saw two different answers on two different sites and didn't know what to think.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Question

backen conjugated
I'm working on learning the different tenses and moods, and am having trouble with conjugating "backen" because I am seeing two different ways for the Präsens und Präteritum tenses.

For Präsens I see: (1) ich backe, du backst, er backt, wir backen, ihr backt, sie backen, and also (2) ich backe, du bäckst, er bäckt, wir backen, ihr backt, sie backen.

and for Präteritum I see (1) ich backte, du backtest, er backte, wir backten, ihr backtet, sie backten, and (2) ich buk, du bukest, er buk, wir buken, ihr buket, wir buken.

Are all of these right or is only one of them right? I'm a little confused because I saw two different answers on two different sites and didn't know what to think.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Answer

Both are right. It sometimes happens that some forms of a strong verb come to be perceived as "a bit strange" as time changes. Here this happened with the past form "buk". So this form is now considered old-fashioned, and instead the weak form "backte" is used. This in turn caused confusion with the present tense forms, because the strong present tense form "du bäckst" sounds fine, but the weak form is "du backst". So both are in use.

English also has examples of strong verbs becoming weak:
http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4386/origin-of-different-past-tenses-for-verbs-with-the-same-endings