Simple Past Tense
The simple past tense, or the preterite as it is called in German, is the prefered tense in written German. This tense is also called as the narrative past. It is mostly the tense of the stories, novels, and newspapers. With a few exceptions, especially the verbs “haben” and “sein”, you won’t experience that this tense being used often in the spoken language.
The conjugation of regular verbs
To conjugate the simple past tense of regular verbs, drop the infinitive ending and –add the following endings
Ich -te
Du -test
Er/sie/es -te
Wir -ten
Ihr -tet
sie/Sie –ten
For example, let’s take a regular verb “kaufen”
Ich kaufte
Du kauftest
Er/sie/es kaufte
Wir kauften
Ihr kauftet
sie/Sie kauften
If the verb ends in “t” or “d”, you need to put an extra “-e” to the endings. For instance “heiraten” (to marry)
Ich heiratete
Du heiratetest
Er/sie/es heiratete
Wir heirateten
Ihr heiratetet
Sie/sie heirateten
Modal verbs take the same endings, however their stem change: “durf-”, “konn-“, “muss-”, “moch-“. The stems of wollen and sollen do not change.
So that for example “dürfen” is conjugated as
Dürfen
Ich durfte (I was allowed)
Du durftest (you were allowed)
Er/sie/es durfte (he/she/it was allowed)
Wir durften (we were allowed)
Ihr durft (you were allowed)
sie/Sie durfen (they/you were allowed)
In this sense, there are other verbs which are similar to modal verbs, i.e. when they are conjugated in the preterit; the same endings as introduced above are used but their stem changes:
nennen: nannte
wissen: wusste
bringen: brachte
brennen: verbrannte
The three of the most important German verbs, sein, haben and werede, are irregular in the preterit and they are also used often in the spoken language in the preterit. Their conjugations are as follows:
Sein
Ich war
Du warst
Er/sie/es war
Wir waren
Ihr wart
Sie/sie waren
Haben
Ich hatte
Du hattest
Er/sie/es hatte
Wir hatten
Ihr hattet
Sie/sie hatten
Werden
Ich wurde
Du wurdest
Er/sie/es wurde
Wir wurden
Ihr wurdet
Sie/sie wurden
Other important irregular verbs and their conjugations in preterit are given in the vocabulary section below
Separable and inseparable verbs
As we saw previously, some prefixes are separable and some are not. As in the present tense, you need to put the separable prefix at the end of the sentence:
“Wir kauften immer Sonttags ein”
In case of inseparable verbs, as the name suggests, should not be separated when conjugated in the preterit.
Vocabulary
Irregular verbs and their conjugations in preterit
Backen to bake “er backte”
Befehlen to order “er befahl”
Beginnen to begin “er begann”
Beißen to bite “er biss”
Bergen to save “er barg”
Bersten to crack “er barst”
Betrügen to cheat “er betrog”
Bewegen to move “er bewog”
Biegen to bend “er bog”
Bieten to offer “er bot”
Binden to tie “er band”
Bitten to ask “er bat”
Blasen to blow “er blies”
Bleiben to stay “er blieb”
Braten to fry “er briet”
Brechen to break “er brach”
Brennen to fire “er brannte”
Bringen to bring “er brachte”
Denken to think “er dachte”
Dringen to penetrate “er dang”
Empfehlen to recommend ”er empfahl”
Erlöschen to expire “er erlosch”
Erschrecken to frighten “er erschrak”
Erwägen to consider “er erwog”
Essen to eat ”er aß”
Fahren to go by car “er fuhr”
Fallen to fall “er fiel”
Fangen to catch “er fing”
Fechten to fight “er focht”
Finden to find “er fand”
Fliegen to fly “er flog”
Fliehen to escape “er floh”
Fließen to flow “er floss”
Fressen to feed “er fraß”
Frieren to freeze “er fror”
Gären to ferment “er gor”
Geben to give “er gab”
Gedeihen to prosper “er gedieh”
Gehen to go “er ging”
Gelingen to succeed “er gelang”
Gelten to be valid “er galt”
Genesen to mend ”er genas”
Genießen to enjoy “er genoss”
Geschehen to happen “er geschah”
Gewinnen to win “er gewann”
Gießen to pour “er goss”
Gleichen to equal ”er glich”
Graben to grab “er grub”
Greifen to grasp “er griff”
Haben to have “er hatte”
Halten to stop “er hielt”
Hängen to hang “er hing”
Heben to enchance “er hob”
Helfen to help “er half”
Kennen to know ”er kannte”
Klingen to ring “er klang”
Kneifen to pinch “er kniff”
Kommen to come “er kam”
Laden to load “er lud”
Kriechen creep “er kroch”
Lassen to let “er ließ”
Laufen to walk “er lief”
Leiden to suffer “er litt”
Leihen to lend “er lieh”
Liegen to be located “er lag”
Lügen to lie “er log”
Mahlen to mill “er mahlte”
Meiden to avoid “er mied”
Melken to milk “er molk”
Messen to measure “er maß”
Nehmen to take “er nahm”
Nennen to name “er nannte”
Pfeifen to whistle “er pfiff”
Preisen to praise “er pries”
Quellen to pour “er quoll”
Raten to advice “er riet”
Reiben to rub ”er rieb”
Rennen to run “er rannte”
Riechen to smell “er roch”
Rufen to call “er rief”
Salzen to salt “er salzte”
Saufen to booze “er soff”
Schaffen to accomplish “er schuff”
Scheiden to divorce “er schied”
Scheinen to shine “er schien”
Schieben to push “er schob”
Schlafen to sleep “er schlief”
Schlagen to hit “er schlug”
Schließen to close “er schloss”
Schmeißen to sling “er schmiss”
Schneiden to cut “er schnitt”
Schreiben to write “er schrieb”
Schreien to shout “er schrie”
Schreiten to tread ”er schritt”
Schweigen to keep quiet “er schwieg”
Schwellen to swell “er schwoll”
Schwingen to swing “er schwang”
Schwören to swear “er schwor”
Sehen to see “er sah”
Sein to be “er war”
Senden to send “er sandte”
Singen to sing “er sang”
Sinken to sink “er sank”
Sinnen to ponder “er sann”
Sitzen to sit “er saß”
Spinnen to plot “er spann”
Sprechen to speak “er sprach”
Springen to jump “er sprang”
Stehen to stand ”er stand”
Stehlen to steal “er stahl”
Steigen to climb “er stieg”
Sterben to die “er starb”
Stinken to stink “er stank”
Streiten to argue “er stritt”
Tragen to carry “er trug”
Treffen to meet “er traf”
Treiben to drive “er trieb”
Treten to kick “er trat”
Trinken to drink “er trank”
Tun to do ”er tat”
Verderben to ruin “er verdarb”
Vergessen to forget “er vergaß”
Verlieren to lose “er verlor”
Verschwinden to disappear “er verschwand”
Verzeihen to forgive “er verzieh”
Wachsen to grow “er wuchs”
Waschen to wash “er wusch”
Weisen to point “er wies”
Werben to recruit “er warb”
Werden to become “er wurde”
Werfen to throw “er warf”
Winden to wind “er wand”
Wissen to know “er wusste”
Ziehen to pull “er zog”
Zwingen to force “er zwang”