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The simple past

Unlike in English, simple past (interchangeably called Präteritum or Imperfekt in German grammar references) is usually reserved for the written language (journalism, fictional writings etc.) and for narration. Exceptions are the verbs sein and haben, as well as the modal verbs, whose simple past forms are usually used both in written and oral language. We distinguish between three different kinds of verb formation in the simple past. 

Weak verbs in the simple past:

Weak verbs are verbs whose stems experience no vowel changes in the different tenses. Examples are:

The simple past endings added to the stem of the weak verb are -te, -test, -te, -ten, -tet, -ten. Examples:

Example:

machen (to do, to make)

Strong verbs in the simple past:

Strong verbs are verbs whose stems experience vowel changes in the different tenses. Examples are:

The simple past endings added to the changed stem of a strong verb are --, -st, –, -en, -t, -en. Examples:

Example:

Irregular verbs in the simple past:

Irregular verbs combine features of both strong and weak verbs in that they have the same endings as weak verbs but the same stem changes as strong verbs. These kinds of verbs are few in number. Some examples are kennen, kannte (be familiar with, was familiar with), bringen, brachte (bring, brought), nennen, nannte (name, named). Example:

 Example:

rennen (to run): ich rannte, du ranntest, er / sie /es rannte, wir rannten, ihr ranntet, sie/Sie rannten 

Sein, haben, and modal verbs in the simple past

As mentioned above, the simple past forms of these verbs are used in both oral and written discourse. Example sentences:

Sein (to be), haben, (to have), können(can):