Simple Past Tense
There are two basic verb tenses in German. Conversational Past : a compound tense using a helping verb and past participle 2. Simple Past- a single verb tense VERY SIMPLE !
simple past a.k.a. narrative past Imperfekt literary past preterite
All German verbs form their simple past tense in one of three ways, depending on whether the verb is a… Weak verb Strong verb or…weak-strong verb
Formula: infinitive stem + “-te” + endings The German weak verbs all follow a basic, predictable pattern. Formula: infinitive stem + “-te” + endings but which endings? (ich) ---- (wir) -n (du) -st (ihr) -t (er) ---- (sie) -n
What commonalities do you notice in the forms? Weak Verbs: What commonalities do you notice in the forms? hören ich hörte du hörtest er hörte wir hörten ihr hörtet sie hörten There are NO endings on the “ich” and “er/sie/es” forms The 1st and 3rd person singular look alike The 1st and 3rd person plural look alike
VARIATIONS: • Verbs whose stems ends in -d, -t, or -m or -n following another consonant add an additional -e- before an -te, -test, or -tet ending: INFINITIVES: reden, arbeiten, zeichnen, atmen CONJUGATED: du redetest, du arbeitetest, er zeichnete, ihr atmetet.
But what does it mean in English? Now you try a few: (spielen) Er _____________ Baseball. Er spielte Baseball. But what does it mean in English? He played baseball.
(kaufen) Seine Eltern ____________ein Auto. Seine Eltern kauften ein Auto. and it means….? His parents bought a car.
See your teacher to get started!! Now you are ready to talk about things that already happened! See your teacher to get started!!