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.
When to use it
Narration in writing
Sie ging nach Hause und schlief sofort ein.
She went home and fell asleep at once.
sein / haben / modals in speech
Ich hatte keine Zeit.
I had no time.
Regular endings
| schwach | stark | |
|---|---|---|
| ich | -te | — |
| du | -test | -st |
| er/sie/es | -te | — |
| wir | -ten | -en |
| ihr | -tet | -t |
| sie/Sie | -ten | -en |
Irregular verbs
Completely irregular
Modal verbs
Mixed verbs
Strong verbs (ablaut)
Frequently asked
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. The main cases are narration in writing and sein / haben / modals in speech. For example: Sie ging nach Hause und schlief sofort ein. — She went home and fell asleep at once..
Regular verbs take: schwach: ich -te, du -test, er/sie/es -te, wir -ten, ihr -tet, sie/Sie -ten; stark: ich —, du -st, er/sie/es —, wir -en, ihr -t, sie/Sie -en.
The most common ones are sein, haben, werden, können, müssen, wollen, sollen and dürfen. Each has its own conjugation table with the full set of forms.
The Präteritum sits at A2 — Elementary, and Verboteca practice is free at A1. The rule, the tables and the examples on this page stay readable without a subscription or an account.
Every verb form becomes a card that comes back right before you would forget it.
