Kapitel 9
Introduction to the Simple Past
THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE [PRÄTERITUM]
Whereas the Perfect Tense (Perfekt) is preferred for conversation in German, the Simple Past (Präteritum) is used in written texts (such as novels, letters, newspapers).
The Präteritumsform of the verb is preferred with frequently used verbs in German, even in conversation. These verbs include the MODALS (können, müssen, dürfen, sollen, wollen, mögen) HABEN, SEIN, WERDEN and WISSEN.
These forms tend to be irregular. This means they must be memorized.
SIMPLE PAST OF WEAK VERBS IN GERMAN
The marker for the simple past form of weak verbs in German is -te.
Weak verbs form the simple past by adding endings to the verb stem as follows:
WOHNEN (stem: WOHN- )
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***If a Verb stem ends in -d or -t, add an -e between the stem and the ending
ARBEITEN (stem: ARBEIT- )
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SIMPLE PAST OF STRONG VERBS IN GERMAN
Like SEIN, strong verbs in German do not take the marker -te in the Simple Past. Instead, the verb stem is changed (Simple Past Stem). This stem takes the following endings in the simple past.
NEHMEN (stem: NAHM- )
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**In deciding if a Verb is STARK (strong) or SCHWACH (weak), the Perfect
Participle is a good indication.
There are some patterns in the formation of the Simple Past Stems for Strong Verbs:
Some verbs that have a vowel-shift in 2nd and 3rd person singular have
similar vowel changes:
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