verb
to bake
A2
backen: verb meaning 'to bake'. Strong (irregular) verb: stem a→u historically (buk), past participle gebacken (also dialectally gebackt). Uses auxiliary haben for perfect (hat gebacken). Not reflexive or separable. Present forms sometimes show umlaut (ich bäcke/du bäckst). Common in cooking contexts.
Examples
Ich backe heute einen Apfelkuchen.
I'm baking an apple pie today.
Ich habe einen Kuchen gebacken.
I baked a cake.
Die Bäckerin buk einen Kuchen, weil die Kunden frische Brötchen wollten.
The baker baked a cake because the customers wanted fresh rolls.
Details
Mnemonics
sounds like 'back' in English — you 'back' something into the oven (imagine pushing dough into heat)
Notes
backen has irregular past/past participle forms (buk/gebacken historically). In everyday speech you will often hear 'gebacken' as the past participle (Perfekt).