Talking about the past is a staple in everyday German communication, and learning how to do it can be easy! You can use the German past tense to share what you did over the weekend or tell a story from your childhood, for instance. Decide when to choose one of these two German tenses that help you describe what used to be or explain what would have been.
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Präteritum is the simple past tense in German
Since Präteritum doesn’t change the grammar of your sentences much compared to other tenses, this part of German is easy to learn for language enthusiasts. You can talk about actions completed in the past (that are no longer ongoing) using Präteritum, which is the “simple past tense” in the German language. Think of it like saying you threw a ball yesterday. You’re not still throwing it, so it’s a completed action.
- Ich warf einen Ball. = I threw a ball. (yesterday)
- Ich werfe einen Ball. = I throw a ball. (now)
When is Präteritum used in conversation?
Präteritum (simple past tense) is not as commonly spoken as it is in English, but there are some situations where it’s used in the spoken German past tense. While Präteritum is typically only used in writing, sentences using German modal verbs and verbs like sein (to be), haben (to have), werden (to become), are often used in Präteritum for conversation.
Which region of Germany you’re in matters, too. In northern Germany, Präteritum is a daily part of conversation regardless of verb choice. In central and southern Germany, however, it can seem out of place in a casual conversation. Following these simple rules will help your German sound more fluent and natural.
How to form sentences in the simple past tense in German
The good news is, if you’re familiar with the German present tense, the simple past tense in German is only one step away from mastery! Präteritum (simple past tense) doesn’t affect word order or the German cases; it just alters the verb of the sentence. That means you can still follow a simple SVO word order: subject first, followed by your altered verb, and finally, any objects are placed towards the end of the sentence.
For example, here are some present tense German sentences and their equivalent in Präteritum:
- Ich habe einen Unfall. → Ich hatte einen Unfall.
- I have an accident. → I had an accident
- Das ist unsere Idee. → Das war unsere Idee.
- That is our idea. → That was our idea.
- Ich will ein Stück Kuchen essen. → Ich wollte ein Stück Kuchen essen.
- I want to eat a piece of cake. → I wanted to eat a piece of cake.
As you can see, the transition from present tense to simple past tense in the German language is very similar to the way it’s done in English. All that changes is the verb, which is the next part you’ll need to learn.
Tips for conjugating common German verbs into Präteritum
So if Präteritum (simple past tense) is all about conjugating German verbs, how do you conjugate them? Conjugation is done through a change in spelling of the German verb. How exactly you change the spelling of German past tense verbs depends on whether you’re conjugating a strong, weak, or mixed verb.
Weak German verbs in simple past tense
For weak verbs that always follow normal conjugation patterns, the process is easy! Take whatever ending your verb had before and simply add a -te- or -t- to it. Take a look at the table below to see how these Präteritum endings look for each German pronoun with the example weak German verb lernen (to learn).
| Pronoun | Simple Past Tense Verb Ending | Lernen Conjugation |
| ich (I) | -te | lernte |
| du (you) | -test | lerntest |
| er/sie/es (he/she/it) | -te | lernte |
| wir (we) | -ten | lernten |
| ihr (you, informal plural) | -tet | lerntet |
| sie/Sie (they/you, formal) | -ten | lernten |
These endings are true for all weak German verbs, like haben. You can see a few examples of weak verbs in Präteritum sentences here.
- Er sollte bei seiner Prüfung nicht schummeln. = He shouldn’t have cheated on his exam.
- Du probiertest vierzig verschiedene Eissorten. = You tasted 40 different kinds of ice cream.
There are many weak verbs in German that can conjugate to the past tense.
- brachen (to bring) → brachten (brought)
- arbeiten (to work) → arbeiteten (worked)
- fragen (to ask) → fragten (asked)
- machen (to do, to make) → machten (did, made)
Conjugating strong German verbs in simple past tense
Strong German verbs, on the other hand, require a little more study. This is because, unlike weak verbs, strong verbs don’t take regular -te and -t endings in Präteritum (simple past tense). Instead, they will undergo a stem change, where the vowel in the middle of the verb will change to a different vowel or have a German umlaut added to it.
Below is a chart showing how sehen (to see), a strong German verb, is conjugated in Präteritum. Notice the stem change from e to a, and how it doesn’t take the regular endings in Präteritum weak verbs do. Compare this to how it’s conjugated in the present tense, too!
| Pronoun | Simple Past Tense | Present Tense |
| ich (I) | sah | sehe |
| du (you) | sahst | siehts |
| er/sie/es (he/she/it) | sah | seht |
| wir (we) | sahen | sehen |
| ihr (you, informal plural) | saht | seht |
| sie/Sie (they/you, formal) | sahen | sehen |
Other strong German verbs, like sein conjugation, will alter their spellings entirely in the simple past tense in German
| Pronoun | Gehen (to go) | Essen (to eat) | Sein (to be) |
| ich (I) | ging | aß | war |
| du (you) | gingst | aßest | warst |
| er/sie/es (he/she/it) | ging | aß | war |
| wir (we) | gingen | aßen | waren |
| ihr (you, informal plural) | gingt | aßt | wart |
| sie/Sie (they/you, formal) | gingen | aßen | waren |
Because these strong verbs don’t follow a particular pattern, you’ll need to memorize their different spelling forms separately.
- Gestern ging ich allein nach Hause. = Yesterday I went home alone.
- Zum Frühstück aß er drei Eier. = For breakfast, he ate three eggs.
- Ich war gestern krank. = I was sick yesterday.
How to use mixed German verbs in Präteritum
As a smaller group of only about a dozen words, mixed German verbs combine aspects of both strong and weak verbs. More specifically, mixed verbs will have a stem change in Präteritum (simple past tense) like those you see in strong verbs, but they still take standard Präteritum endings just like weak verbs do.
A common example of this is bringen (to bring). See how bringen conjugated like a mixed verb in Präteritum here.
| Pronoun | Simple Past Tense Verb Ending | Bringen Conjugation |
| ich (I) | -te | brachte |
| du (you) | -test | brachtest |
| er/sie/es (he/she/it) | -te | brachte |
| wir (we) | -ten | brachten |
| ihr (you, informal plural) | -tet | brachtet |
| sie/Sie (they/you, formal) | -ten | brachten |
Notice how the spelling changed in the verb stem, but all the endings for bringen in the past tense in German match those of weak verbs.
- Wirklich? Ich dachte, er ist heute. = Really? I thought it was today
- Er wusste die Antwort nicht. = He knew not the answer.
Other common mixed German verbs include:
- denken (to think) → dachten (thought)
- kennen (to know) → kannten (knew)
- nennen (to name, to call) → nannten (named, called)
What is Plusquamperfekt in the German past tense?
Plusquamperfekt (past perfect tense) is a German past tense used to describe actions that were already completed before another event in the past. Imagine you planned a birthday party last week for a friend and you talk about how you had everything set up for the party before the birthday friend arrived—that’s where Plusquamperfekt comes in.
To form a sentence in Plusquamperfekt, you’ll use either haben (to have) or sein (to be), conjugated as though they were in Präteritum (simple past tense) as an auxiliary verb. Then, your main verb will be placed towards the end of the sentence in its Partizip II (past participle) form.
Check out the sentence examples below to see how Plusquamperfekt sentences are formed.
- Ihr hattet das Museum besucht, bevor es renoviert wurde. = You all had visited the museum before it was renovated.
- Bevor der Film begann, hatten wir unsere Plätze gefunden. = Before the movie started, we had found our seats.
Plusquamperfekt step one: Conjugating your auxiliary verb
Your first stop on the way to forming a German sentence with Plusquamperfekt (past perfect tense) is correctly conjugating your auxiliary verb according to the subject of your sentence. Your auxiliary verb, luckily, will only ever be one of two verbs: haben (to have) or sein (to be). They help the main verb of the sentence form the “perfect” part of your perfect tense, meaning they help communicate that the action is already completed before another action, rather than it being ongoing.
Haben conjugation in Plusquamperfekt
Haben (to have) is one of your two verb choices when forming a sentence in Plusquamperfekt (past perfect tense).
You must pick haben as your auxiliary verb when the main verb of your sentence is a
- transitive verb, meaning a verb that takes a direct object
- Ich hatte das buch gelesen. = I had read the book.
- verb that expresses mental or physical activities
- Er hatte lange geschlafen. = He had slept for a long time.
- reflexive verb
- Ich hatte mich verletzt. = I had injured myself.
- modal verb like wollen (want to) or dürfen (may)
- Sie hatten arbeiten müssen. = She had had to work.
When haben is the correct auxiliary verb for your Plusquamperfekt sentence, you will need to conjugate it as though it were in Präteritum (simple past tense) according to the subject of the sentence (meaning the noun that is performing the action). Keep in mind that if your subject is anything other than a pronoun, you’ll conjugate as though the subject were er (he), sie (she) or es (it) instead.
Refer to the handy chart below to see how you can conjugate haben for your Plusquamperfekt sentences.
| German Pronoun | Haben Conjugation |
| ich (I) | hatte |
| du (you) | hattest |
| er/sie/es (he/she/it) | hatte |
| wir (we) | hatten |
| ihr (you, informal plural) | hattet |
| sie/Sie (they/you, formal) | hatten |
Once you’ve conjugated haben, you’ll typically place it right next to the subject of your sentence. Here are a few sentence examples so you can see the conjugations of haben in Plusquamperfekt in action:
- Du hattest das Fenster geöffnet. = You had opened the window
- Wir hatten lange gewartet. = We had waited a long time
- Ihr hattet alles vorbereitet. = You all had prepared everything.
Sein conjugation in Plusquamperfekt
Your second option for an auxiliary verb in Plusquamperfekt (past perfect tense) is sein (to be).
Sein should be your auxiliary verb when your main verb
- describes movement from one place to another
- Er war nach Deutschland geflogen. = He had flown to Germany.
- state a change of state or condition
- Du warst eingeschlagen. = You had fallen asleep.
- is part of a small group of intransitive verbs that don’t take a direct object
- Das Kind war geblieben. = The child had stayed.
Sein changes its spelling entirely in past tense German. See the table below to get used to how to conjugate sein in the past tense according to the subject of your sentence.
| German Pronoun | Sein Conjugation |
| ich (I) | war |
| du (you) | warst |
| er/sie/es (he/she/it) | war |
| wir (we) | waren |
| ihr (you, informal plural) | wart |
| sie/Sie (they/you, formal) | waren |
Have a look at the sentence examples below for practical ways you can use the conjugated sein in Plusquamperfekt:
- Ich war früh aufgestanden. = I had gotten up early.
- Wir waren spät gekommen. = We had arrived late.
- Ihr wart ins Kino gegangen. = You all had gone to the movies.
Plusquamperfekt step two: Form your past participle
Once your auxiliary verb is all squared away, your last step for forming a sentence in the German past perfect tense is turning your main verb into a Partizip II (past participle). This is generally done in German by adding ge- to the start of the verb and replacing the verb’s ending with either -t or -en.
- lernen (learning) → gelernt (learned)
- schlafen (sleeping) → geschlafen (slept)
- fragen (asking) → gefragt (asked).
This is true for all weak verbs in German that follow standard grammar rules. Mixed verbs, however, will follow these rules but add their own spin on things by undergoing a stem change. This means some of the letters in the core part of the verb, usually a vowel, will be changed into another letter or letters.
- kennen (knowing) → gekannt (knew)
- rennen (running) → gerannt (ran)
- brennen (to burn) → gebrannt (burned)
Finally, strong verbs are loose cannons who go by their own rules, and their Partizip II forms need to be memorized separately.
- reservieren (to reserve) → reserviert (reserved)
- studieren (to study) → studiert (studied)
That’s all there is to it! Once your main verb is in its Partizip II form, you’ll just have to place it, typically, at the very end of the sentence and you’ve got a grammatically correct past tense German sentence in Plusquamperfekt!
Präteritum vs. Plusquamperfekt: Which One Do I Use?
Newcomers who learn German often confuse when to use Präteritum (simple past tense) vs. Plusquamperfekt (past perfect tense). It’s helpful to think of a timeline of the events you’re describing. Use Präteritum for actions completed before the present moment, especially in written German and when using sein (to be), haben (to have), werden (to become), and German modal verbs as your main verb.
Plusquamperfekt, on the other hand, sets the stage for something that came even earlier in the timeline than something else in the past. This is helpful when you’re telling a story and the sequence of events really matters to help people understand your message.
Key takeaways to know about the German past tense
There are many similarities in how German and English talk about the past. Here are some main points to remember about the German past tense:
- Präteritum (simple past tense) describes events completed before the present.
- Northern Germany uses Präteritum in conversation more frequently than in central or southern Germany.
- Verbs conjugate with unique spellings in Präteritum depending on whether they’re strong, weak, or mixed verbs.
- Use Plusquamperfekt (past perfect tense) to talk about events that were completed before another event in the past.
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