Past Tense in German - Präteritum
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Once Upon a Time There Was a Tense Called "The Simple Past"
In German, the simple past is a past tense used in fairy tales. It is also called Präteritum (Preterite). The preterite is not 100% equal to the English simple past, as it may be used differently.
For simplicity, we will nonetheless call it "Simple Past".
Example:
Es war einmal ein Prinz, der hatte viel Geld aber keine Frau.
Once upon a time there was a prince who had a lot of money but no wife.
Can you imagine how the story continues? Why not write the rest of it in German, using the simple past?
Many novels and other forms of literature also use the simple past.
Example:
Auf leise knatschenden Stiefeln ging er die Treppe hinauf in den Flur und blieb an der Schlafzimmertür stehen. (...) Er hörte einen warmen, schweren Seufzer, der weicher wurde als sie sich umdrehte und die losen Messingplatten des Bettes schepperten.
On quietly creaky boots he went up the staircase to the hall, paused by the bedroom door. (...) He heard then a warm heavy sigh, softer, as she turned over and the loose brass quoits of the bedstead jingled.
Does this sound familiar? Then maybe you have read "Ulysses" by James Joyce. These sentences are taken from the 4th chapter of the famous novel.
In everyday language, Germans rarely use the simple past. Most of the time when talking about the past, they use the present perfect. If you are telling your German friends about what you did yesterday, for example, you would not say:
Ich aß gestern beim Grillen drei Lammkotletts und trank vier Gläser Bier. (simple past)
Yesterday at the barbecue, I ate three lamb cutlets and drank four glasses of beer.
Instead, you would say:
Ich hab(e) gestern beim Grillen drei Lammkotletts gegessen und vier Gläser Bier getrunken. (present perfect)
There are only a few German verbs that still use the simple past in spoken language today. These verbs are:
sein - to be haben - to have wollen - to want sollen - shall müssen - must können - can
Example:
Ich hab(e) gestern beim Grillen drei Lammkotletts gegessen und vier Gläser Bier getrunken. (present perfect)
Yesterday at the barbecue I ate three lamb cutlets and drank four glasses of beer.
Das war genug. (simple past of "sein")
That was enough.
Dann konnte ich nicht mehr. (simple past of "können")
After that I couldn't (drink or eat) any more.
The following example shows how to form the simple past in German.
Example:
holen - to get, to fetch
Ich holte - I got
Du holtest - You got
Er, sie, es holte - He/She/It got
Wir holten - We got
Ihr holtet - You got
Sie holten - They got
If you pay attention to the endings, you already know how to form the simple past of "weak verbs". "Strong verbs" are tougher.
Example:
essen - to eat
Ich aß - I ate
Du aßt - You ate
Er, sie, es aßen - He/She/It ate
Wir aßen - We ate
Ihr aßt - You ate
Sie aßen - They ate
"Mixed verbs" are a little more difficult than weak verbs but mostly easy.
Example:
rennen - to run
Ich rannte - I ran
Du ranntest - You ran
Er, sie, es rannten - He/She/It ran
Wir rannten - We ran
Ihr ranntet - You ran
Sie rannten - They ran
That was it for now, concerning the German simple past.
Learn how to differentiate between German verb types in order to conjugate all of them correctly! Read:
Strong, Weak, and Mixed Verbs in German and look up any verb in this list: German Verbs