The Simple Past (Präteritum)
In spoken German, you usually talk about the past using the present perfect tense. But sein (to be) and haben (to have) are major exceptions—people almost always use their simple past forms (Präteritum) instead, even in casual conversation.
Conjugating sein (war) and haben (hatte)
Notice an important rule for the simple past: the ich and er/sie/es forms are always identical.
| Pronoun | sein (to be) | haben (to have) |
|---|---|---|
| ich | war | hatte |
| du | warst | hattest |
| er/sie/es | war | hatte |
| wir | waren | hatten |
| ihr | wart | hattet |
| sie/Sie | waren | hatten |
Talking About the Past
To set the scene, you will often use time words like gestern (yesterday), früher (in the past), or damals (back then).
If you start a sentence with one of these time words, the verb stays in Position 2, pushing the subject to Position 3.
| I was very sad yesterday. | Ich war gestern sehr traurig. |
| Yesterday my colleague had a lot of stress. | Gestern hatte mein Kollege viel Stress. |
| In the past my parents were young and happy. | Früher waren meine Eltern jung und glücklich. |
| Back then you guys had a dream. | Damals hattet ihr einen Traum. |
Putting It All Together
You can mix these forms to tell stories, explain reasons, or contrast how things used to be with how they are today.
| The boy was sad, because he had bad luck. | Der Junge war traurig, denn er hatte Pech. |
| We had no success back then. | Wir hatten damals keinen Erfolg. |
| In the past I had a lot of time, but today I have stress. | Früher hatte ich viel Zeit, aber heute habe ich Stress. |
| Were you here yesterday? | Warst du gestern hier? |
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