Simple Past with Irregular Verbs

Hallo, Deutschlerner! In our previous grammar lesson, we talked about when to use the Präteritum tense and how to form it with regular verbs. Today, we’re diving into the mysterious world of irregular verbs in the Präteritum tense. 

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Perfekt vs Präteritum Reminder

As a quick reminder, both the Perfekt and Präteritum tenses talk about past events, but the Perfekt tense says, “This is done!” while Präteritum claims, “This was happening.” Although, in reality, Germans often opt for Perfekt in conversation and Präteritum in writing or storytelling. Now, let’s crack the irregular code.

The Basics of Irregular Verbs in the Präteritum Tense

The basics of irregular verbs in the Präteritum tense are similar to the basics of the regular verbs. The ich and er, sie, es forms of the verbs don’t get an ending and the other forms simply take the same endings they did in the present tense. The downside is that the stem for each verb is weird. There are some patterns, which we will talk about in a bit, but for the most part, you simply have to memorize each irregular verb as you come across it with this tense. 

Let’s start with a very common verb: gehen. The stem of this verb in the Präteritum tense is “ging”. You could use it in the following sentences: 

So you see we have the base form of the verb “ging” and then we add endings. Ich and er, sie, es don’t get endings. Du requires -st. Wir -en, ihr -t, sie, Sie -en. Let’s try it with the verb helfen. The stem of this one becomes “half”. 

Practice Exercise #1

Now it is your turn. How would you conjugate the verb “geben”? I’ll give you a hint, the base form is “gab”. Click to the answers to unblur them.

Verbs that End with S or ß

If a German verb’s Präteritum base form has an S or ß it needs an E between the base form and the endings for du and ihr. You can see this in the verb “lesen”, which becomes “las” in the Präteritum tense. Here is the full conjugation. 

My student’s favorite verb in this tense is usually essen. The Präteritum version is aß. The conjugation of it is: 

Practice Exercise #2

Now you try it with the verb sitzen. The base form is “saß”. Click the answers to unblur them.

Verbs that End with D or T

Similar to what happens in the Präsens tense D & T require the extra E, too. Take the verb “finden” as an example. The base form is “fand”. 

Another example would be the verb “tun”, which becomes “tat” in the Präteritum tense. 

Practice Exercise #3

Now you try it out with the verb “verstehen”, which becomes “verstand” in the Präteritum tense. Click the answers to unblur them.

Weak Irregular Verbs?

There is a category of verbs in the Präteritum tense that some teachers call “weak irregular verbs”. They do this, because there is a stem change, but the verb still ends with -te, which makes it look and act like a regular verb. I don’t use this explanation, but I wanted you to be aware that it exists, in case you read someone else’s explanation online and you are wondering what is going on. An example of this is the verb “bringen”, which is “brachte” in the Präteritum. This makes the full conjugation: 

As you can see, if you just start by knowing that “bringen” becomes “brachte” in the Präteritum tense, you don’t need to classify them in a new category of verb, as the endings (-st for du, -en for wir and the 2 sie’s and -t for ihr) are the same as all of the other irregular verbs. In fact, those are the same endings we use for regular verbs too, if you just think of the base form of a regular verb as whatever the usual stem is plus -te. 

What’s Wrong with Teaching Weak Irregular Verbs?

My complaint with the idea of weak irregular verbs is that it complicates things more than is needed. If a verb is regular, lose the -en at the end and add -te followed by the conjugation ending, if needed. If a verb is irregular, memorize the base form and add a conjugation ending, if needed. Making students learn that some verbs have a stem change and a -te at the end is just unnecessary memorization. 

To prove to me that you think it is super easy to conjugate verbs like this, too, conjugate the verb “denken”, which becomes “dachte” in this tense. Click the answers to unblur them.

Patterns of Irregular Verbs

Now, I know what you are thinking, because it is the same reaction I get from my students every year that I teach this. How in the world do you know what a verb is going to change into with this tense? It seems so arbitrary. Well, unfortunately, the short answer is that you are just going to have to memorize them. The good news is that there are patterns that verbs follow. You may have already noticed some of them as we went through the examples.

When you take a step back and view the verb in the three main parts (infinitive, Präteritum, and Perfekt), you can see these patterns.

IE-EI-EI (The Old MacDonald Pattern)

Some verbs change from EI in the infinitive to IE in the Präteritum and Perfekt forms. For example: 

E-A-O Pattern

Some verbs have an E in the infinitive, an A in the Präteritum and an O in the Perfekt. For example: 

You may notice another trend with those verbs. All of them also have a stem change in the Präsens, namely from E to I: brechen – bricht, helfen – hilft, nehmen – nimmt, sprechen – spricht, sterben – stirbt, treffen – trifft. 

There are quite a few other patterns that verbs follow, so instead of listing them all out in this lesson, I’m just going to direct you to this lesson about irregular verbs in the past tenses of German. The best lesson I have made about this is from 2021, but it was so perfectly crafted, that recreating it would be a disservice to the original lesson. 

Example Story in the Präteritum Tense

Obviously the lesson for today so far is lacking in examples, so let’s try out a story that mixes irregular and regular verbs in the Präteritum tense. 

If you’re eager to polish the skills you learned in this lesson, consider joining my Deutschlerner Club. It will take you through the A1 and A2   levels of German and will have you speaking with natives in no time. If you’re ready for the next adventure, click the links below to take a deep dive into the other lessons in this series about the Präteritum tense.

Präteritum – Simple Past Tense Posts

• Grammar Lessons
  • Overview of German Tenses
  • 6 German Tenses vs 12 English Tenses: When to Use Which
  • Präteritum Overview & Regular Verb Conjugation
  • Irregular Verbs in Simple Past
  • 3 Principal Parts of German Verbs
  • Modal Verbs in Simple Past
• Listening Comprehension Lessons
  • Als ich ein Kind war… Stories of Herr Antrim’s Childhood
  • Rainers erste Reise
  • eine Geschichte im Präteritum
  • Hans im Glück
  • Rapunzel