Simple past tense (Präteritum) in German
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The simple past tense expresses facts and actions which have taken place in the past. Today, it isn't used that much in the German spoken language, but rather in written stories and reports. The simple past tense is formed by using only the verb, roots or derivative. Find some short examples in the table below.
German simple past tense | English meaning |
---|---|
Ich spielte | I played, I did play, I was playing |
Er ging | he went, he did go, he was going |
Wir lachten | we laughed, we did laugh, we were laughing |
The simple past differs from the present perfect in the way, that it describes past events that are interrelated within a time frame that is separate from the present.
The simple past (Präteritum) in German is used in the following situations. To describe other situations in the past, typically the present tense is used.
Usage | Example | Translation |
---|---|---|
With auxiliary verbs (sein, haben, werden) | Wir waren gestern im Zoo. | We were in the zoo yesterday. |
With modal verbs (können, dürfen, mögen,..) | Du durftest keinen Kuchen essen? | You weren't allowed to eat cake? |
In written language (e.g. in newspapers or books) | Der Bundeskanzler hielt eine Rede. | The Federal Chancellor delivered a speech. |
If you want to learn more about auxiliary and modal verbs, have a look at the special chapters about them.
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There are some marker words that indicate the use of the simple past in a sentence. When you recognise one of them, you can be sure that the simple past is the right form to use.
Marker word | Translation |
---|---|
vor zwei Jahren | two years ago |
Letztes Jahr/letzte Woche | last year/last week |
Im Jahr 1994/In 1994 | In year 1994/In 1994 |
Vor einer langen Zeit | A long time ago |
Als ich klein war | When I was little |
gestern | yesterday |
Here are some example sentences:
The 'Präteritum' is formed in the following way for regular verbs:
Subject | Verb and translation |
---|---|
ich | lebte (I lived) |
du | lebtest (you lived) |
er/sie/es | lebte (he/she/it lived) |
wir | lebten (we lived) |
ihr | lebtet (you lived) |
sie/Sie | lebten (they lived) |
There are also a lot of irregular verbs that don't follow the rule described above. See in the following chapters the irregular conjugation of:
See the example of the irregular verbs 'sehen' in the table below.
Subject | verb sehen (to see) |
---|---|
ich | sah (I saw) |
du | sahst |
er/sie/es | sah |
wir | sahen |
ihr | saht |
sie/Sie | sahen |
The German auxiliary verbs sein, haben and werden also got special conjugations. See the declension below.
Subject | sein (to be) | haben (to have) | werden (to become) |
---|---|---|---|
ich | war | hatte | wurde |
du | warst | hattest | wurdest |
er/sie/es | war | hatte | wurde |
wir | waren | hatten | wurden |
ihr | wart | hattet | wurdet |
sie/Sie | waren | hatten | wurden |
For example:
This three verbs, as well as the modal verbs you will see below, are the only verbs that are used quite commonly in the spoken German language. Most of the other verbs are used in 'Perfekt'.
The modal verbs change their word stem when conjugated in the simple past. Some of them get rid of their 'umlaut' (ä,ö,ü).
Subject | dürfen (to be allowed to) | können (to can) | mögen (to like) | müssen (to have to) | sollen (to should) | wollen (to want) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ich | durfte | konnte | mochte | musste | sollte | wollte |
du | durftest | konntest | mochtest | musstest | solltest | wolltest |
er/sie/es | durfte | konnte | mochte | musste | sollte | wollte |
wir | durften | konnten | mochten | mussten | sollten | wollten |
ihr | durftet | konntet | mochtet | musstet | solltet | wolltet |
sie/Sie | durften | konnten | mochten | mussten | sollten | wollten |
In the special cases of this verbs, an '-e' is added between the verb stem and the ending, if the verb stem either ends on
See the example below, to get a deeper uderstanding of this type of verb:
Subject | reden (to speak) | öffnen (to open up) |
---|---|---|
ich | redete | öffnete |
du | redetest | öffnetest |
er/sie/es | redete | öffnete |
wir | redeten | öffneten |
ihr | redetet | öffnetet |
sie/Sie | redeten | öffneten |
We hope you enjoyed learning the past tense and that you know when and how to form it now. Why not go and check out the other tenses! See you soon.
Fill in the gaps with the correct endings
FInd below some short sentences in German, and complete the bold verbs with the right ending. Pay attention as it's a mix of regular (for weak verbs) and irregular (for strong verbs) verbs.
Tips
Sie konn das nicht wissen. (They couldn't know that.)
Wir sah ihn nicht. (We didn't see him.)
Wir mach die Tür zu. (We closed the door.)
Du kauf zu viel. (You bought too much.)
Wir durf das nicht sagen. (We couldn't say that.)
Sie brach den Wein. (She brought the wine.)
Sie verbrann die Bücher. (They burned the books.)
Du sprach zu schnell. (You spoke too fast.)
Fill in the correct form
Type the correct simple past form of each verb (Weak verbs)
Wir (reisen) in einem Wohnmobil durch Österreich. (We traveled in a camper through Austria.)
Meine Eltern (kaufen) mir eine Gitarre. (My parents bought me a guitar.)
Ich (tanzen) die ganze Nacht. (I danced the whole night.)
Auf wen (warten) er? (Who did he wait for?)
Mein Opa (wandern) früher viel. (My grandpa hiked a lot.)
Strong verbs/Mixed verbs
Unsere Freunde (kommen) uns besuchen. (Our friends came to visit us.)
Du (laufen) ganz schnell weg. (You walked away very fast.)
Meine Oma (kennen) einen berühmten Schauspieler. (My grandma knew a famous actor.)
Worüber (sprechen) ihr bei der Versammlung? (What did you talk about in the meeting?)
Fill in the missing conjugation in simple past of the verbs. Remeber the change of the stem.
1.bitten - would like to ask to
ich
du
er/sie/es
wir
ihr
sie/Sie
2.essen - to eat
ich
du
er/sie/es
wir
ihr
sie/Sie
3. geben - to give
ich
du
er/sie/es
wir
ihr
sie/Sie
4.gehen - to go
ich
du
er/sie/es
wir
ihr
sie/Sie
5.schlafen - to sleep
ich
du
er/sie/es
wir
ihr
sie/Sie
Fill in the gaps with the correct endings
FInd below some short sentences in German, and complete the bold verbs with the right ending. Pay attention as it's a mix of regular (for weak verbs) and irregular (for strong verbs) verbs.
Tips
Sie konn das nicht wissen. (They couldn't know that.)
Wir sah ihn nicht. (We didn't see him.)
Wir mach die Tür zu. (We closed the door.)
Du kauf zu viel. (You bought too much.)
Wir durf das nicht sagen. (We couldn't say that.)
Sie brach den Wein. (She brought the wine.)
Sie verbrann die Bücher. (They burned the books.)
Du sprach zu schnell. (You spoke too fast.)
Fill in the correct form
Type the correct simple past form of each verb (Weak verbs)
Wir (reisen) in einem Wohnmobil durch Österreich. (We traveled in a camper through Austria.)
Meine Eltern (kaufen) mir eine Gitarre. (My parents bought me a guitar.)
Ich (tanzen) die ganze Nacht. (I danced the whole night.)
Auf wen (warten) er? (Who did he wait for?)
Mein Opa (wandern) früher viel. (My grandpa hiked a lot.)
Strong verbs/Mixed verbs
Unsere Freunde (kommen) uns besuchen. (Our friends came to visit us.)
Du (laufen) ganz schnell weg. (You walked away very fast.)
Meine Oma (kennen) einen berühmten Schauspieler. (My grandma knew a famous actor.)
Worüber (sprechen) ihr bei der Versammlung? (What did you talk about in the meeting?)
Fill in the missing conjugation in simple past of the verbs. Remeber the change of the stem.
1.bitten - would like to ask to
ich
du
er/sie/es
wir
ihr
sie/Sie
2.essen - to eat
ich
du
er/sie/es
wir
ihr
sie/Sie
3. geben - to give
ich
du
er/sie/es
wir
ihr
sie/Sie
4.gehen - to go
ich
du
er/sie/es
wir
ihr
sie/Sie
5.schlafen - to sleep
ich
du
er/sie/es
wir
ihr
sie/Sie
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my name is Nina, I'm from Austria and I also lived for one year and a half in Canada. I worked there as a German Teacher for adults, so I speak German, English and French.
I also teach English for beginners and advanced beginners.
My teaching methodes are totally based on the level of my student. If somebody is already advanced, I focus on communication and pronunciation. We will arrange on a topic and talk and discuss in the lesson about it.
If my student is a beginner, I'm gonna start with the basics of the German language. (the articles, the verb "to be", the pronouns...)
The learning material is all made by myself, because I'm a German teacher, so that means, I already got lots of working sheets for many topics. I send these to my student via e-mail or put it directly on the coLanguage homepage.
I'm available from Monday to Thursday between 5pm and 08:00 pm. For the weekend it's the best to just send me a request.
Of course is a free trial lesson (it's about 20 minutes) possible.
I'm happy to teach you :-)
See you soon! Nina
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Sehr Gut lesson. We read some german news, worked on konjugations. Learned new vocab and really worked on pronunciation.
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