Table of Contents
Introduction
In this chapter you learn how to talk about the past with the German preterite. At A2 level you mostly meet the preterite in written German, especially in stories, news, and reports. You will also meet some very common verbs in the preterite in everyday speech. The goal here is not to master all verb forms, but to understand and use the most frequent ones correctly.
What the Preterite Is Used For
The preterite is a past tense form. It talks about completed actions in the past. In modern spoken German people mostly use the perfect tense for past events. The preterite is most important in:
- Written texts, such as stories, narratives, news reports and biographies.
- Very frequent verbs in everyday spoken German, especially “sein”, “haben”, “werden”, “können”, “müssen” and a few others.
In everyday spoken German, most verbs use the perfect tense, but a small group of very common verbs regularly use the preterite.
In this chapter we focus on this small but important group and on recognizing preterite forms in texts.
Preterite of “sein” and “haben”
“Sein” and “haben” are the most important preterite verbs. You meet them all the time in stories and reports.
Conjugation of “sein” in the preterite
| Person | German | English meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ich | ich war | I was |
| du | du warst | you were (sg, informal) |
| er/sie/es | er war / sie war / es war | he / she / it was |
| wir | wir waren | we were |
| ihr | ihr wart | you were (pl, informal) |
| sie | sie waren | they were |
| Sie | Sie waren | you were (formal) |
Example sentences:
Ich war gestern krank.
Wir waren am Wochenende in Berlin.
Warst du zu Hause?
Conjugation of “haben” in the preterite
| Person | German | English meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ich | ich hatte | I had |
| du | du hattest | you had (sg, informal) |
| er/sie/es | er hatte / sie hatte / es hatte | he / she / it had |
| wir | wir hatten | we had |
| ihr | ihr hattet | you had (pl, informal) |
| sie | sie hatten | they had |
| Sie | Sie hatten | you had (formal) |
Example sentences:
Ich hatte viel Arbeit.
Hattet ihr Ferien?
Sie hatten gestern keine Zeit.
In the preterite, “sein” becomes “war-” and “haben” becomes “hatt-”, then you add the personal ending.
Word Order with the Preterite
The preterite is a finite verb form. It follows the normal main clause word order for verbs in the present tense:
Second position in statements:
Gestern war ich zu Hause.
Letzte Woche hatten wir Besuch.
First position in yes/no questions:
War er gestern im Büro?
Hattet ihr Hunger?
Second position in W-questions after the question word:
Wann warst du in München?
Warum hattet ihr keine Zeit?
You do not use a past participle with the preterite. There is only one verb form in the clause.
Do not combine preterite with “haben” or “sein” as auxiliaries. You say “ich war in Berlin”, not “ich habe war gewesen” or similar.
Preterite of Modal Verbs
Modal verbs are very frequent in the preterite. You meet them often in everyday speech, more than normal verbs in the preterite. At A2 level you should recognize and use the most important ones: “können”, “müssen”, “dürfen”, “wollen”, “sollen”, “mögen”.
Typical pattern of modal verbs in the preterite
Most modal verbs form the preterite in a similar way. The stem often changes a little, and the endings are the same type you saw with “hatte” and “war”.
Here is a table with all main modal verbs in the preterite, 1st and 3rd person singular, and 1st person plural. This is usually enough to recognize forms:
| Verb (infinitive) | ich (I) | er/sie/es (he/she/it) | wir (we) | English meaning (preterite) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| können | ich konnte | er konnte | wir konnten | I / he / we could, were able to |
| müssen | ich musste | er musste | wir mussten | I / he / we had to, musted* |
| dürfen | ich durfte | er durfte | wir durften | I / he / we was / were allowed to |
| wollen | ich wollte | er wollte | wir wollten | I / he / we wanted to |
| sollen | ich sollte | er sollte | wir sollten | I / he / we was / were supposed to |
| mögen | ich mochte | er mochte | wir mochten | I / he / we liked |
(*) In English we normally say “had to”, not “musted”. The table only shows the idea.
Example sentences in context:
Ich konnte gestern nicht kommen.
Konnte sie gut schwimmen?
Wir mussten früh aufstehen.
Er durfte lange fernsehen.
Sie wollte Lehrerin werden.
Sollten wir ihm helfen?
Als Kind mochte ich Gemüse nicht.
Modal verbs in the preterite still use an infinitive verb at the end of the clause, just like in the present:
“ich musste arbeiten”, “er konnte kommen”.
Recognizing Preterite Endings
The preterite of “sein”, “haben” and the modal verbs follows a typical pattern. Here you see the endings that appear again and again:
| Person | Typical ending | Example with “haben” | Example with “können” |
|---|---|---|---|
| ich | -te | ich hatte | ich konnte |
| du | -test | du hattest | du konntest |
| er/sie/es | -te | er hatte | er konnte |
| wir | -ten | wir hatten | wir konnten |
| ihr | -tet | ihr hattet | ihr konntet |
| sie / Sie | -ten | sie hatten / Sie hatten | sie konnten / Sie konnten |
“War” is irregular, but the endings are almost the same idea:
| Person | Form of “sein” |
|---|---|
| ich | war |
| du | warst |
| er/sie/es | war |
| wir | waren |
| ihr | wart |
| sie / Sie | waren |
For reading, it is enough to notice that forms with “-te, -test, -ten, -tet” or “war-, hatt-” usually show a preterite form.
If you see a verb with “-te, -test, -ten, -tet” and no extra auxiliary verb in the clause, it is probably preterite.
Preterite vs Perfect in Use
You already know or will learn the perfect tense in a separate chapter. Here we only compare very briefly where you meet each tense.
In modern spoken German:
Ich habe gestern gearbeitet.
Ich war gestern müde.
For “arbeiten”, speakers choose the perfect. For “sein”, they normally use the preterite in speech as well:
Ich war müde.
Ich hatte keine Zeit.
Ich konnte nicht kommen.
In written German, especially in stories and news, you see more preterite, also with many other verbs. At A2 you should at least understand these forms when reading.
Compare:
| Tense | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| perfect | Ich habe den Film gesehen. | I saw the film. |
| preterite | Ich sah den Film. | I saw the film. |
You will work with the perfect systemically in another chapter. For now, focus mostly on “sein”, “haben” and the modal verbs in preterite.
Using Time Expressions with the Preterite
To make clear when something happened, you combine preterite forms with time expressions. Most time expressions are the same as with the perfect or present.
Some typical combinations:
Gestern war ich lange im Büro.
Letzte Woche hatten wir Urlaub.
Vor zwei Jahren konnte ich kein Deutsch.
Früher musste ich viel arbeiten.
Als Kind mochte ich Süßigkeiten sehr.
Im Sommer waren wir oft im Park.
You will learn time expressions in more detail in another chapter. Here they simply show how natural the preterite sounds in past narratives.
Short Mini Story with Preterite
Read this short text. It uses only verbs from this chapter in the preterite, plus easy vocabulary.
Gestern war ein langer Tag für Anna. Am Morgen war sie sehr müde, aber sie musste früh aufstehen, weil sie eine Prüfung hatte. Sie konnte nicht gut frühstücken, denn sie hatte keinen Hunger. In der Schule war sie nervös, aber die Prüfung war nicht so schwer. Am Nachmittag hatte Anna frei. Sie wollte ihre Freundin treffen, aber die Freundin konnte nicht kommen, weil sie arbeiten musste. Am Abend war Anna zu Hause und sie mochte das, denn sie war wirklich sehr müde und hatte keine Energie mehr.
Try to notice the preterite forms: war, musste, konnte, hatte, wollte, mochte.
Summary of Key Points
The preterite is a past tense. At A2 you mostly need to:
Understand and use the preterite of “sein” and “haben”.
Understand and often use the preterite of modal verbs: “können, müssen, dürfen, wollen, sollen, mögen”.
Recognize common endings: -te, -test, -ten, -tet, and the irregular “war-”, “hatt-”.
Use normal main clause word order with the finite preterite verb.
For everyday speaking, use perfect for most verbs, but use preterite very often with “sein”, “haben” and modal verbs.
Vocabulary List for This Chapter
| German | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| war | was | preterite of “sein”, 1st / 3rd person sg |
| warst | were | preterite of “sein”, 2nd person sg informal |
| waren | were | preterite of “sein”, 1st / 3rd person pl, formal “Sie” |
| wart | were | preterite of “sein”, 2nd person pl informal |
| hatte | had | preterite of “haben”, 1st / 3rd person sg |
| hattest | had | preterite of “haben”, 2nd person sg informal |
| hatten | had | preterite of “haben”, 1st / 3rd person pl, formal “Sie” |
| hattet | had | preterite of “haben”, 2nd person pl informal |
| konnte | could, was able to | preterite of “können”, 1st / 3rd person sg |
| konntest | could | preterite of “können”, 2nd person sg informal |
| konnten | could | preterite of “können”, 1st / 3rd person pl, formal “Sie” |
| konntet | could | preterite of “können”, 2nd person pl informal |
| musste | had to | preterite of “müssen”, 1st / 3rd person sg |
| musstest | had to | preterite of “müssen”, 2nd person sg informal |
| mussten | had to | preterite of “müssen”, 1st / 3rd person pl, formal “Sie” |
| musstet | had to | preterite of “müssen”, 2nd person pl informal |
| durfte | was allowed to | preterite of “dürfen”, 1st / 3rd person sg |
| durftest | were allowed to | preterite of “dürfen”, 2nd person sg informal |
| durften | were allowed to | preterite of “dürfen”, 1st / 3rd person pl, formal “Sie” |
| durftet | were allowed to | preterite of “dürfen”, 2nd person pl informal |
| wollte | wanted to | preterite of “wollen”, 1st / 3rd person sg |
| wolltest | wanted to | preterite of “wollen”, 2nd person sg informal |
| wollten | wanted to | preterite of “wollen”, 1st / 3rd person pl, formal “Sie” |
| wolltet | wanted to | preterite of “wollen”, 2nd person pl informal |
| sollte | was supposed to | preterite of “sollen”, 1st / 3rd person sg |
| solltest | were supposed to | preterite of “sollen”, 2nd person sg informal |
| sollten | were supposed to | preterite of “sollen”, 1st / 3rd person pl, formal “Sie” |
| solltet | were supposed to | preterite of “sollen”, 2nd person pl informal |
| mochte | liked | preterite of “mögen”, 1st / 3rd person sg |
| mochtest | liked | preterite of “mögen”, 2nd person sg informal |
| mochten | liked | preterite of “mögen”, 1st / 3rd person pl, formal “Sie” |
| mochtet | liked | preterite of “mögen”, 2nd person pl informal |
| gestern | yesterday | time expression |
| letzte Woche | last week | time expression |
| vor zwei Jahren | two years ago | time expression |
| früher | earlier, in the past | time adverb |
| als Kind | as a child | temporal expression |
| Prüfung | exam, test | noun, feminine (die Prüfung) |
| frei haben | to be off work, have free time | phrase |
| Besuch haben | to have visitors | phrase |