Elementary level · Premium
The Präteritum (simple past) is the written narrative past, used in stories, reports and news. In speech it is mainly kept for sein (war), haben (hatte), werden (wurde) and modal verbs. Weak verbs insert -te- (machte); strong verbs change their stem vowel (gehen → ging) and add no ending in the ich/er-forms.
| -te | machte |
| -test | machtest |
| -te | machte |
| -ten | machten |
| -tet | machtet |
| -ten | machten |
| — | ging |
| -st | gingst |
| — | ging |
| -en | gingen |
| -t | gingt |
| -en | gingen |
Verboteca drills every verb form with spaced repetition until it becomes automatic.
