Simple past (Präteritum) of regular & strong verbs

You already know two exceptions to German's usual spoken past: war/hatte and the modal verbs almost always use their Präteritum (simple past) forms, even in casual conversation. Every other German verb has a Präteritum too — you just don't reach for it as often in speech. Instead, it's the tense that takes over the moment you start writing: stories, novels, news reports, and any account of past events on the page.

Quick shortcut: regular (weak) verbs — stem + -te, -test, -te, -ten, -tet, -ten (machen → machte). Strong verbs — the stem vowel changes and there's no -te at all, just –, -st, –, -en, -t, -en (gehen → ging). A small third group, mixed verbs, combines both: a changed stem plus the weak -te endings (bringen → brachte).

Regular verbs: stem + -te

Regular (also called weak) verbs form the Präteritum by adding -te plus an ending onto the unchanged stem — exactly the same ending set you already met on hatte and the modal verbs:

• Ich machte die Hausaufgaben. (I did the homework.)
• Sie spielten den ganzen Tag. (They played all day.)
• Er lernte Deutsch in Berlin. (He learned German in Berlin.)

As with hatte, ich and er/sie/es share one form, and wir and sie/Sie share another.

Stems ending in -t or -d (like arbeiten — to work, stem arbeit-) insert an extra -e- before every ending, exactly the same spelling rule you already met in the present tense: ich arbeitete, du arbeitetest, er arbeitete, wir arbeiteten, ihr arbeitetet, sie arbeiteten.

Strong verbs: the stem vowel changes, no -te

Strong verbs (the same group that takes an irregular past participle in the Perfekt) don't add -te at all in the Präteritum. Instead, the stem vowel changes, and a shorter set of endings is added — ich and er/sie/es take no ending whatsoever:

• Ich ging nach Hause. (I went home.)
• Wir kamen zu spät an. (We arrived too late.)
• Sie sprach kein Wort. (She didn't say a word.)

There's no rule that predicts the new stem vowel — like the participles in the strong-verb Perfekt lesson, these are best learned as vocabulary, one verb at a time:

Note that the Präteritum stem and the Perfekt participle usually differ from each other and from the infinitive — singen (to sing) becomes sang in the Präteritum but gesungen in the Perfekt, three different vowels in one verb. Each strong verb's full set of forms is worth learning together.

Stems ending in -d or -t also get the same extra -e- before du and ihr that regular verbs get: fandest, fandet (from fand).

Mixed verbs: a changed stem, but weak endings

A small group of common verbs — called mixed verbs — combines a changed stem, like a strong verb, with the ordinary weak -te endings:

These still take the full weak ending set: ich brachte, du brachtest, er brachte, wir brachten, ihr brachtet, sie brachten — only the stem itself changes, exactly like a strong verb.

When to use the Präteritum instead of the Perfekt

For war, hatte, and the modal verbs, the Präteritum is the everyday choice in speech. For every other verb, it's usually the other way around: in conversation, German speakers reach for the Perfekt (ich habe gemacht, ich bin gegangen), and save the Präteritum mainly for writing — novels, fairy tales, news articles, formal reports, and any connected narrative of past events. Ich ging gestern ins Kino is grammatically fine in speech too, and you'll hear it, but Ich bin gestern ins Kino gegangen is the more typical spoken choice for this same verb.

If your language doesn't have this particular written/spoken split, treat it as a fact about German specifically: for most verbs, expect to write in the Präteritum but talk in the Perfekt. Southern German, Austrian, and Swiss speech leans on the Perfekt even more heavily, using the Präteritum for regular verbs only rarely even in fairly formal contexts.

Common mistakes

• ❌ Ich gehte nach Hause. → ✅ Ich ging nach Hause. (gehen is a strong verb — no -te, just a changed stem)
• ❌ Ich arbeitte den ganzen Tag. → ✅ Ich arbeitete den ganzen Tag. (stem ends in -t, so it needs the extra -e- before -te)
• ❌ Du ging nach Hause. → ✅ Du gingst nach Hause. (du usually needs -st, even on a strong-verb stem with no other ending — though a stem ending in a sibilant takes -est instead, e.g. lesen → du lasest, essen → du aßest)
• ❌ Ich ginge nach Hause to mean simply "I went home" → ✅ Ich ging nach Hause. (ginge is a different form, the subjunctive — a separate topic; the plain Präteritum is just ging)

Quick check

Fill in the correct Präteritum form.

1. (machen, ich) Ich ____ das Essen. (regular)
2. (gehen, sie — she) Sie ____ ins Büro. (strong)
3. (arbeiten, wir) Wir ____ den ganzen Abend. (regular, -t stem)
4. (kommen, ihr) ____ ihr pünktlich?
5. (sehen, du) ____ du den Film?

Key takeaways

• Regular (weak) verbs form the Präteritum with stem + -te, -test, -te, -ten, -tet, -ten — the same endings already met on hatte and the modal verbs.
• Strong verbs change their stem vowel instead, with no -te: –, -st, –, -en, -t, -en (gehen → ging, gingst, ging, gingen, gingt, gingen).
• A strong verb's Präteritum stem, its Perfekt participle, and its infinitive often all use different vowels — each verb's forms are learned together as vocabulary.
• Mixed verbs (bringen, denken, kennen, wissen) change their stem like a strong verb but still take the weak -te endings: brachte, dachte, kannte, wusste.
• Stems ending in -t/-d insert an extra -e- before endings, for both regular and strong verbs; a strong-verb stem ending in a sibilant takes -est for du instead of plain -st (du lasest, du aßest).
• Unlike war/hatte/modal verbs, most other verbs favour the Perfekt in everyday speech — the Präteritum is mainly for writing: stories, news, and formal narrative.