Präteritum

When

Mostly in written stories and reports about the past. In speech most verbs use the Perfekt, but sein, haben, werden and the modal verbs often use the Präteritum: Ich war müde. (I was tired.) Wir mussten warten. (We had to wait.)

How to form it

• Weak verbs: stem + te, test, te, ten, tet, ten (ich machte, du machtest).
• Strong verbs change their vowel and have no ending with ich and er/sie/es: gehen → ich ging, du gingst, er ging, wir gingen.
• Mixed verbs do both: a new vowel and -te. denken → ich dachte, bringen → ich brachte, wissen → ich wusste.

Pitfalls

• Ich and er/sie/es always have the same form: ich war, er war; ich ging, er ging.
• With a stem ending in -d or -t, an e comes in between: ich arbeitete, er wartete.
• The vowel of a strong verb has to be learnt. It is often like English (ich sang, I sang), but not always (ich ging, I went).