Präteritum (Simple Past) with Regular Verbs: Simple Past in German

Perfekt vs Präteritum: The Differences Between the Two German Past Tenses

Before I get too deep into the real topic of the day, we need to talk about Perfekt vs Präteritum. Both express events of the past, but are slightly different.

The Perfekt tense technically expresses an action that is already complete from the reference point of now. The Präteritum tense technically expresses an action that is ongoing in the past. In reality, the difference is negligible.

Nowadays, the Perfekt tense is generally used when speaking about past events in German and the Präteritum tense is used when writing or telling stories about past events.

In my last grammar lesson I explained how 6 German tenses can be used to express the same things as 12 English tenses. I talked about when to use each tense in both languages and briefly how to form them.

In this German grammar lesson I'm going to teach you the basics of the Präteritum tense in German. This includes: a brief overview of what this tense is, why you need to know it, when you use it and how to use it with regular verbs.

All Präteritum Lessons

6 German Tenses vs 12 English Tenses

Präteritum Basics with Regular Verbs

Präteritum with Irregular Verbs

Präteritum with haben & sein

Past Tense of Modal Verbs

When to Use the Präteritum Tense in German

First of all, What is this tense used for? Technically speaking, the Präteritum tense is used to express ongoing actions in the past.

The closest English equivalent in terms of meaning is the past progressive tense, things like “I was going to the store.” and “We were walking across the street.”

The closest English equivalent in terms of how the tense looks, however, is the simple past tense, which would be like “I went to the store.” and “We walked across the street.”

While this is what it technically means, in common use, Präteritum is simply the tense used when writing or telling stories about the past.

It is also commonly used when speaking in German about past events when using the verbs haben and sein as well as the modal verbs. Since those are all weird in their own little ways, we will be ignoring those verbs for now. Just know that it is far more common to use the Präteritum tense when using sein and haben in the past even when speaking.

Why You Should Learn the Präteritum Tense in German

So if it is mostly used when writing, why is this tense a big deal to learn? Well, pretty much any narrative story you ever read will be written in this tense. Fairytales, news stories, novels, biographies… anything set in the past and written will likely use this tense.

At the very least you should be able to read and understand this tense, so you can consume those media. Another reason to know this tense is that you will likely be telling stories at some point and you will need this tense in order to do that.

What the Präteritum Tense Looks Like

Now that we have a general idea of what this tense is and why we need to know it, let’s take a look at what it looks like in some example sentences.

Die drei kleinen Schweinchen brauchten ein neues Haus. -
The three little pigs needed a new house.

Notice what we did in this sentence? The only difference here between the Präsens tense and the Präteritum tense is an extra T. Present tense conjugation would have been “brauchen”. We added a T before the -en to make it past tense “brauchten”. Let’s try another.

Der Junge dankte dem Kellner. -
The boy thanked the waiter.

What’s the difference between present and past this time? In the Präsens we would have said “dankt”, but the Präteritum version says “dankte”. This looks like we just added an E to the end of the present tense version, but it isn’t quite what is happening.

Let’s try one more before I reveal the secret formula.

Ihr feiertet in der Gartenlaube. -
You all celebrated in the gazebo.

What happened here? This time we added both an E and a T to the end of the usual present tense version. Instead of “feiert” I said “feiertet”.

How to Create the Präteritum Form of Regular Verbs

So sometimes we add E, sometimes ET and sometimes just T? Kind of. Really what happens for this tense is we start by adding -t to indicate the past tense to the stem of the verb (the version of the verb minus -en at the end). The -e is added to aid in pronunciation. The end result is that we add -te to the end of the verb stem.

This gives us a kind of base form for the past tense. So “brauchen” becomes “brauchte”, “danken” becomes “dankte” and “feiern” becomes “feierte”. Then we simply add the same endings we did in the present tense. Be careful, however, as the ich and er, sie, es forms are content just having that base form with -te at the end.

Let’s take a closer look at the verb “brauchen” to see this formula in action. Start by removing -en from the end of the infinitive to reveal the verb stem, “brauch”. Then add -te to give us the base form of the verb in the Präteritum, “brauchte”. Then add the same endings we would in the present tense for everything except ich and er, sie, es. Your final conjugation chart should look like this:

Now try it with the verb “danken”. How would you conjugate this verb in the Präteritum?

You remember how the present tense sometimes requires us to add an E between the verb stem and the conjugation ending? Well, the same thing happens in this tense, but instead of only affecting the du, er, sie, es and ihr forms of the verb, since all forms have -te before the rest of the ending, all forms require an extra E between the verb stem and the Präteritum ending. Let’s look at the verb “arbeiten” as an example

We started by removing the -en from the infinitive to reveal the verb stem, “arbeit”. Because the verb stem ends with a T, we have to add E before adding the Präteritum base -te. This gives us the Präteritum base for this verb, “arbeitete”. When we use the du-form, we add -st. The wir and sie (they) and Sie (you) forms gain an N to become “arbeiteten”. The weirdest looking one on the list is definitely “ihr arbeitetet”. While it may look a bit strange, these are the correctly conjugated forms of “arbeiten” in the Präteritum tense.

Now it is your turn again. Try it out with the verb “reden”. It means “to talk” and follows the same pattern. 

Präteritum with Regular Verbs Reading Comprehension Exercise

Lisa, Max, Anna, Peter und Julia bereiteten alles vor. -
Lisa, Max, Anna, Peter und Julia prepared everything.

Sie packten das Zelt. -
They packed the tent.

Lisa sagte: "Ich packe meine Schlafsäcke ein." -
Lisa said: “I am packing my sleeping bag.”

Max fügte hinzu: "Ich nehme die Campingkocher mit." -
Max added: “I am taking the camping cooker with me.”

Während sie ihre Sachen packten, regnete es draußen. -
While they were packing their things, it rained outside.

Peter schaute aus dem Fenster. -
Peter looked out the window.

Die Anderen lachten darüber. -
The others laughed about it.

Julia schickte eine Nachricht an ihre Eltern. -
Julia sent a message to her parents.

Sie freute sich auf die Campingreise. -
She was looking forward to the camping trip.

Sie machten sich auf den Weg zum Campingplatz. -
They got on their way to the campground.

You may notice from all of these examples that they use the er, sie, es and sie plural forms a lot. Think about how you tell stories in your native language. It is likely the same. You don’t need first and second person pronouns very often in storytelling. So while the ihr form of certain verbs in this tense are incredibly odd looking, it is also not very likely that you will ever need to use “arbeitetet” in conversation or in storytelling.

If you want to practice the things taught in this lesson, consider joining my Deutschlerner Club. It’s an interactive online course that will teach you the basics of the German language from A1 through A2. I also upload weekly bonus materials for every lesson I upload to YouTube.

If you are ready to learn about the irregular verbs in the Präteritum tense, click here.