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German Simple Past

The document explains the formation of the German simple past tense (Präteritum) for weak, mixed, and strong verbs, detailing the structure for each type. It highlights the narrative nature of the simple past compared to the perfect tense and notes that certain common verbs are frequently used in both tenses in conversation. Additionally, it draws parallels between German and English verb forms, providing examples of weak, strong, and mixed verbs in English.

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113 views1 page

German Simple Past

The document explains the formation of the German simple past tense (Präteritum) for weak, mixed, and strong verbs, detailing the structure for each type. It highlights the narrative nature of the simple past compared to the perfect tense and notes that certain common verbs are frequently used in both tenses in conversation. Additionally, it draws parallels between German and English verb forms, providing examples of weak, strong, and mixed verbs in English.

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brilliantpulisic
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© © All Rights Reserved
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GERMAN SIMPLE PAST TENSE (a.k.a.

PRÄTERITUM, IMPERFEKT)
WEAK VERBS:

INFINITIVE STEM + (e)te + personal endings:

-(e)te -(e)ten spielte spielten


-(e)test -(e)t spieltest spieltet
-(e)te -(e)ten spielte spielten

MIXED VERBS:

CHANGED STEM + (e)te + personal endings

-(e)te -(e)ten dachte dachten


-(e)test -(e)t dachtest dachtet
-(e)te -(e)ten dachte dachten

STRONG VERBS :

CHANGED STEM + personal endings


- -en ging gingen
-st -t gingst gingt
- -en ging gingen

Notes
The SIMPLE PAST TENSE is a narrative past tense (vs. the PERFECT, which is a conversational
past tense). However, the SIMPLE PAST forms of sein, haben, werden, wissen, and the modal
verbs are frequently used alongside the PERFECT in conversation. With the exception of these 10
common verbs, the second-person forms (du/ihr) of the SIMPLE PAST are rarely used.
The SIMPLE PAST refers to completed past action only vs. the PERFECT tense, which can
convey varied aspect with respect to time:

Ich ging. = I went. Ich bin gegangen. = I went.


I have gone.
I did go.
I was going.

The simple past form in the principle parts is given in the third person singular (er/sie/es)form.

As Germanic languages, German and English have many parallels. Similarities can be seen in the
principle parts of verbs. Compare the forms above with these ENGLISH EXAMPLES. Which are
weak verbs? Strong verbs? Mixed verbs?

clean, cleaned, have cleaned eat, ate, have eaten think, thought, have thought
say, said, have said go, went, have gone catch, caught, have caught
hear, heard, have heard write, wrote, have written bring, brought, have brought
cook, cooked, have cooked take, took, have taken
study, studied, have studied fly, flew, have flown
wash, washed, have washed see, saw, have seen

© thegermanprofessor.com

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