Using the German Präteritum
What is the Präteritum? The Präteritum is one form of the German past tense. It is used mainly in written language, including literature, newspaper articles, reports and narratives.
In everyday spoken German, the Perfekt is generally more common. However, some frequent verbs are also often used in the Präteritum when speaking, such as war, hatte and konnte.
Example in narrative past tense:
- Gestern ging er nach Hause und las ein Buch.
Yesterday he went home and read a book.
When is the Präteritum used?
- In written narratives, novels and fairy tales.
- In newspaper articles and official reports.
- With some verbs, including haben, sein and modal auxiliary verbs, it is also frequently used in speech.
Conjugating weak regular verbs
The Präteritum of weak verbs follows a regular pattern.
Formation: verb stem + -te + personal ending
Example: machen → machte
- ich machte – I did
- du machtest – you did
- er/sie/es machte – he/she/it did
- wir machten – we did
- ihr machtet – you did
- sie/Sie machten – they did / you did
More examples:
- Ich spielte Fußball. – I played football.
- Wir suchten eine Wohnung. – We looked for an apartment.
- Sie lebte in Berlin. – She lived in Berlin.
Spelling rule for weak verbs
If the verb stem ends in -t, -d, -m or -n, an additional e is inserted to make pronunciation easier.
Example: arbeiten → arbeitete
- ich arbeitete – I worked
- du arbeitetest – you worked
- er/sie/es arbeitete – he/she/it worked
- wir arbeiteten – we worked
- ihr arbeitetet – you worked
- sie/Sie arbeiteten – they worked / you worked
More examples:
- antworten → antwortete – answered
- öffnen → öffnete – opened
- warten → wartete – waited
Strong irregular verbs
With strong verbs, the vowel in the stem changes, and there is no -te past-tense marker. The verbs only take the personal endings.
These forms must be learned individually.
Example: fahren → fuhr
- ich fuhr – I travelled
- du fuhrst – you travelled
- er/sie/es fuhr – he/she/it travelled
- wir fuhren – we travelled
- ihr fuhrt – you travelled
- sie/Sie fuhren – they travelled / you travelled
More examples:
- gehen → ging – went
- sprechen → sprach – spoke
- essen → aß – ate
- trinken → trank – drank
- bleiben → blieb – stayed
Example sentences:
- Ich ging ins Kino. – I went to the cinema.
- Er aß ein Sandwich. – He ate a sandwich.
- Wir blieben zu Hause. – We stayed at home.
Mixed verbs
Mixed verbs have the following characteristic:
- Their stem vowel changes, and they also take the -te past-tense marker.
Example: denken → dachte
- ich dachte – I thought
- du dachtest – you thought
- er/sie/es dachte – he/she/it thought
- wir dachten – we thought
- ihr dachtet – you thought
- sie/Sie dachten – they thought / you thought
More examples:
- bringen → brachte – brought
- kennen → kannte – knew
- wissen → wusste – knew
- nennen → nannte – called or named
Example sentences:
- Ich wusste die Antwort. – I knew the answer.
- Wir brachten die Bücher zurück. – We brought the books back.
- Er nannte seinen Hund Max. – He named his dog Max.
Summary
- Weak verbs regularly take the -te ending: machen → machte.
- Strong verbs change the stem vowel and take personal endings: gehen → ging.
- Mixed verbs change the stem vowel and take the -te marker: denken → dachte.
- The Präteritum is used mainly in written language, but some frequent verbs are also heard in the Präteritum in speech, such as war, hatte and konnte.
Practical steps for learning the Präteritum
- Start by learning the Präteritum forms of common verbs such as sein, haben and modal auxiliary verbs.
- Practise the regular -te pattern with weak verbs such as machen, spielen and arbeiten.
- Learn strong and mixed verbs individually, including gehen → ging, fahren → fuhr and denken → dachte.
- Read short German narratives, newspaper articles and reports to see how the Präteritum is used in context.