B1 · GRAMMAR
Präteritum: the past tense for writing
In spoken German, the Perfekt is normally used for the past, but you will see the Präteritum in newspapers, books, stories, and formal letters. At the B1 level, you need to be able to read and understand them, and use them when writing. For regular verbs, the rule is easy (-te); for irregular verbs, you just need to memorize the past stem.
In this lesson
1. Where is it used?
Written language: stories, news, reports, letters. In speech, generally Perfekt.
2. Regular: -te-
machen → machte, arbeiten → arbeitete.
Er arbeitete in Köln.
He was working in Cologne.
3. Irregular: new stem
gehen → ging, kommen → kam, sehen → sah.
Wir gingen nach Hause.
We went home.
4. Mixed verbs
Stem changes + -te: denken → dachte, bringen → brachte, wissen → wusste.
5. ich = er
In irregular verbs, ich and er take no endings: ich ging, er ging.
💡 Learn irregular verbs with four forms: gehen – geht – ging – gegangen. Knowing not just the Partizip II, but also the Präteritum stem makes reading much easier.