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German 2 Unit 9: The Präteritum (Simple Past)

The Präteritum, or simple past, is the main past tense of written German: stories, news reports and fairy tales use it. In speech it is used mostly with sein, haben, the modals and a handful of common verbs.

Covers: When to use the Präteritum versus the Perfekt, Weak verbs (-te-), Strong verbs (vowel change, no -te-), Mixed verbs, Sein, haben and werden, Separable verbs in the Präteritum, Principal parts

Study guide

German has two everyday past tenses that usually mean the same thing in English. The Perfekt (Ich habe gespielt) is the normal choice in conversation, while the Präteritum (Ich spielte) is the normal choice in written narration: novels, newspaper articles, fairy tales and formal reports. In speech, however, a few very common verbs almost always appear in the Präteritum: sein (war), haben (hatte), werden (wurde), the modal verbs (konnte, musste, wollte) and expressions like es gab (there was/were). So a typical spoken sentence mixes the two: Gestern war ich müde, also habe ich früh geschlafen.

Weak verbs form the Präteritum by adding -te- to the stem, then a personal ending: ich spielte, du spieltest, er/sie/es spielte, wir spielten, ihr spieltet, sie/Sie spielten. Notice that the ich and er/sie/es forms are identical and have no extra ending beyond -te. Stems ending in -t or -d, or in clusters like -gn and -fn, add -ete- for pronunciation: arbeiten becomes ich arbeitete, reden becomes er redete, öffnen becomes sie öffnete. Verbs in -ieren are weak too: studieren becomes ich studierte. Because the pattern is regular, you can form the Präteritum of any weak verb you know.

Strong verbs form the Präteritum with a changed stem vowel and no -te-. The ich and er/sie/es forms have no ending at all; the other persons take the endings -st, -en, -t, -en: ich ging, du gingst, er ging, wir gingen, ihr gingt, sie gingen. Common forms to memorize include kommen → kam, sehen → sah, geben → gab, nehmen → nahm, sprechen → sprach, finden → fand, trinken → trank, schreiben → schrieb, bleiben → blieb, fahren → fuhr, laufen → lief, schlafen → schlief, essen → aß, lesen → las, sitzen → saß, stehen → stand and liegen → lag. Strong verbs are best learned as principal parts: infinitive, Präteritum, participle, as in trinken, trank, getrunken.

Mixed verbs combine a vowel change with the weak marker -te-: bringen becomes brachte, denken becomes dachte, kennen becomes kannte, nennen becomes nannte, rennen becomes rannte and wissen becomes wusste. The three most important auxiliaries are irregular: sein becomes war (ich war, du warst, er war, wir waren, ihr wart, sie waren), haben becomes hatte (ich hatte, du hattest), and werden becomes wurde (ich wurde, du wurdest). Because war and hatte are so frequent, they are the first Präteritum forms German speakers use in conversation: Wo warst du? Ich hatte keine Zeit.

Separable verbs behave in the Präteritum just as they do in the present: the prefix goes to the end of a main clause, and the verb rejoins it in a subordinate clause. So ankommen becomes Der Zug kam pünktlich an, but ..., als der Zug ankam. Aufstehen becomes Ich stand um sechs auf. Inseparable verbs follow the pattern of their base verb without splitting: verstehen becomes verstand, bekommen becomes bekam, besuchen becomes besuchte. When you read a German story, look at the stem: a -te- signals a weak or mixed verb, while a changed vowel without -te- signals a strong verb, and the principal parts let you recognize the infinitive.

Key ideas

• The Präteritum is the standard past tense for writing; the Perfekt is standard in conversation.
• Sein, haben, werden, the modals and es gibt usually appear in the Präteritum even in speech.
• Weak verbs add -te- (or -ete-) to the stem: spielte, arbeitete.
• Strong verbs change their vowel and take no -te-: ging, kam, sah.
• In both weak and strong verbs, the ich and er/sie/es forms are identical.
• Mixed verbs change vowel and add -te-: brachte, dachte, kannte, wusste.
• Separable prefixes go to the end of a main clause in the Präteritum too: kam ... an.

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Adding -te- to strong verbs (gehte, kommte, trinkte).
• Adding an ending to the ich or er form of strong verbs (ich gingte, er kame).
• Forgetting the linking e in forms like arbeitete and redete.
• Leaving a separable prefix attached in a main clause (Ich aufstand um sechs).
• Using the Perfekt of sein and haben everywhere in speech when war and hatte sound more natural.

Before the test, make sure you can

• Explain when German speakers use the Präteritum and when they use the Perfekt.
• Conjugate weak verbs in the Präteritum, including -ete- forms.
• Recall the Präteritum stems of common strong verbs.
• Conjugate mixed verbs and sein, haben and werden in the Präteritum.
• Place separable prefixes correctly in Präteritum main and subordinate clauses.
• Identify the infinitive of a Präteritum form in a reading passage.
• Retell a short story in the Präteritum.

Words to know

es war einmal

once upon a time

damals

back then

plötzlich

suddenly

danach

afterward

schließlich

finally

früher

formerly, in the past

gehen – ging

to go – went

kommen – kam

to come – came

sehen – sah

to see – saw

geben – gab

to give – gave

finden – fand

to find – found

sprechen – sprach

to speak – spoke

fahren – fuhr

to drive – drove

laufen – lief

to run – ran

sein – war

to be – was

haben – hatte

to have – had

werden – wurde

to become – became

bringen – brachte

to bring – brought

denken – dachte

to think – thought

wissen – wusste

to know – knew

Sample practice questions

30 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.