Brottin

TOPIC · Tenses (Zeitformen)

How to conjugate verbs in the past tense in German

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After this lesson you can reliably form regular and irregular verbs in the Präteritum and use them in simple sentences about the past.

This lesson explains how to use the Präteritum (simple past tense) in German. You will see how regular and irregular verbs change and when this tense is used.

Overview: Präteritum vs. Perfekt

The Präteritum expresses finished actions in the past:

  • Ich ging gestern ins Kino. (I went to the cinema yesterday.)
  • Wir spielten am Sonntag Fußball. (We played football on Sunday.)

In everyday spoken German, people more often use Perfekt (ich bin gegangen, wir haben gespielt). But in texts, stories, reports and newspapers, Präteritum is very important.

1Regular verbs (regelmäßige Verben)

Regular verbs form the Präteritum with:

verb stem + -te + personal ending

Example with machen:

PersonPräteritum formMeaning
ichmachteI made
dumachtestyou (sg.) made
er/sie/esmachtehe/she/it made
wirmachtenwe made
ihrmachtetyou (pl.) made
sie/Siemachtenthey/you (formal) made

Verbs ending in -t, -d, -fn, -chn

If the stem ends with a “difficult” consonant, an extra e is inserted.

Example arbeiten:

PersonPräteritum formMeaning
icharbeiteteI worked
duarbeitetestyou (sg.) worked
er/sie/esarbeitetehe/she/it worked
wirarbeitetenwe worked
ihrarbeitetetyou (pl.) worked
sie/Siearbeitetenthey/you (formal) worked

More examples:

  • Ich spielte gestern Gitarre. (I played the guitar yesterday.)
  • Sie lernten viel für die Prüfung. (They studied a lot for the exam.)

2Irregular verbs (unregelmäßige Verben)

Irregular or starke Verben often change the vowel in the stem and have their own past forms. Endings are similar to the present tense without “ich”.

Example gehen:

PersonPräteritum formMeaning
ichgingI went
dugingstyou (sg.) went
er/sie/esginghe/she/it went
wirgingenwe went
ihrgingtyou (pl.) went
sie/Siegingenthey/you (formal) went

More examples:

  • Ich aß ein Stück Kuchen. (I ate a piece of cake.)
  • Er las das Buch gestern. (He read the book yesterday.)

3Key verbs: "sein", "haben", "werden"

These three verbs are very frequent and irregular:

Personseinhabenwerden
ichwarhattewurde
duwarsthattestwurdest
er/sie/eswarhattewurde
wirwarenhattenwurden
ihrwarthattetwurdet
sie/Siewarenhattenwurden

Examples:

  • Ich war gestern krank. (I was ill yesterday.)
  • Wir hatten keine Zeit. (We had no time.)
  • Sie wurden nervös. (They became nervous.)

4Using the Präteritum

You mainly use Präteritum:

  • in stories and fairy tales: "Es war einmal …" (Once upon a time …)
  • in books, reports, newspapers
  • with sein, haben, werden also very often in spoken German

Word order stays like in the present tense:

  • Gestern ging ich ins Kino. (Yesterday I went to the cinema.)
  • Am Wochenende spielten wir Fußball. (At the weekend we played football.)

After this lesson you can form Präteritum correctly and use it to talk and write about past events in simple German.