Past Tense
Just like the English present tense, the past tense has three forms:
habitual. I spoke German.
incomplete I was speaking German.
emphatic I did speak German.
Like the German present tense, the German past tense has only one form that is translated into any of the three forms in English:
Ich sprach Deutsch. I spoke German. I was speaking German. I did speak German.
The German past tense is used primarily as a written form, although it exists in the spoken language. The present perfect tense, which will be taken up in Chapter 15, is more commonly used in the spoken language to express a past-tense idea.
Regular verbs
The past-tense conjugation of regular verbs consists of the stem of the infinitive attached to the suffix -te with the appropriate conjugational ending. Notice that the third-person singular (er, sie, es = he,she, it) is illustrated here by the pronoun er. The third-person plural sie (they) and Sie (you formal) are
illustrated by the pronoun sie. When singular sie cannot be differentiated from plural sie, they will be identified as sie s. and sie pl. respectively. Let’s look at some example verbs.
kaufen (buy) reisen (travel) bestellen (order)
ich kaufte reiste bestellte
du kauftest reistest bestelltest
er kaufte reiste bestellte
wir kauften reisten bestellten
ihr kauftet reistet bestelltet
sie kauften reisten bestellten
If a verb stem ends in -t or -d, an -e is added before the conjugational ending.
For example:
arbeiten (work) enden (end)
ich arbeitete endete
du arbeitetest endetest
er arbeitete endete
wir arbeiteten endeten
ihr arbeitetet endetet
sie arbeiteten endeten
Irregular verbs
German irregular verbs do what many English irregular verbs do: they form the past tense not by a suffix but by a vowel or stem change. Look at how the German and English infinitives change to the
irregular past tense:
irregular past English irregular past
kommen kam come came
singen sang sing sang
sprechen sprach speak spoke
When you know the irregular past-tense stem, you are ready to place the appropriate conjugational endings on the stem. The irregular past tense of most verbs does not require the -te suffix.
For example:
springen (jump) rufen (call) fliegen (fly)
ich sprang rief flog
du sprangst riefst flogst
er sprang rief flog
wir sprangen riefen flogen
ihr sprangt rieft flogt
sie sprangen riefen flogen
Notice that the first- and third-person singular (ich, er, sie, es) do not require an ending in the irregular past tense.
The following is a list of commonly used irregular verbs with their past-tense formations:
infinitive past tense
bleiben. blieb. stayed
essen aß ate
fahren fuhr traveled
fallen fiel fell
geben gab gave
gehen ging went
helfen half helped
laufen lief ran
lesen las read
nehmen nahm took
schlafen schlief slept
schlagen schlug hit
schreiben schrieb wrote
stehen stand stood
tragen trug wore, carried
It is important to look specifically at haben, sein, and werden, because they play an important role in the formation of other tenses as well as have a function when they stand alone. Their irregular
past-tense conjugations are:
haben (have) sein (be) werden (become)
ich hatte war wurde
du. hattest warst wurdest
er hatte war wurde
wir hatten waren wurden
ihr hattet wart wurdet
sie hatten waren wurden
Some irregular verbs require the suffix -te. They not only make a vowel change in the stem, but they also require a suffix with the appropriate conjugational endings.
For example:
senden (send) nennen (name) rennen (run)
ich sandte nannte rannte
du sandtest nanntest. ranntest
er sandte nannte rannte
wir sandten nannten rannten
ihr sandtet nanntet ranntet
sie sandten nannten rannten
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