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### Irregular verbs in the past tense

In the last lesson, we learned that regular (weak) verbs form the simple past (*Präteritum*) by adding *-te* to the stem. Irregular (strong) verbs, however, do not use a *-te* ending. Instead, they change their core vowel.

Because the *Präteritum* is the tense of storytelling, you will see these strong verbs constantly in fairy tales, novels, and news reports.

When conjugating strong verbs in the *Präteritum*, the *ich* and *er/sie/es* forms have **no ending** at all—they are just the new stem. The other pronouns take standard endings.

| Pronoun | Ending | Example (*kommen* -> *kam*) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ich / er / sie / es | - | kam |
| wir / sie / Sie | -en | kamen |
| du | -st | kamst |
| ihr | -t | kamt |

Let's look at a few of the most essential strong verbs in German:
- *gehen* (to go) becomes *ging*
- *kommen* (to come) becomes *kam*
- *sprechen* (to speak) becomes *sprach*

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### Action and movement

Classic stories are full of knights and dragons leaping into action. Here are a few more strong verbs you will frequently encounter when reading:
- *treten* (to step) becomes *trat*
- *nehmen* (to take) becomes *nahm*
- *fliegen* (to fly) becomes *flog*
- *schlagen* (to hit) becomes *schlug*

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### Modals in the past tense

Modal verbs like *wollen* (to want) and *können* (to be able to) are incredibly common in storytelling. They act a bit like regular verbs because they take the *-te* ending, but notice that if they have an umlaut in the present tense, they drop it in the past tense!
- *wollen* becomes *wollte*
- *können* becomes *konnte*

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### More strong verbs

Because there is no single rule for exactly how the vowel changes across different verbs, you will naturally learn the forms of strong verbs through practice and reading. Here are a few more highly useful ones to round out your storytelling toolkit:
- *werfen* (to throw) becomes *warf*
- *fangen* (to catch) becomes *fing*
- *reiten* (to ride) becomes *ritt*

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The simple past of irregular verbs (ging, kam)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Question	Answer
the queen	die Königin
The queen went into the castle.	Die Königin ging in das Schloss.
the prince	der Prinz
The prince came and spoke with the queen.	Der Prinz kam und sprach mit der Königin.
to step	treten
The prince stepped into the dark room.	Der Prinz trat in das dunkle Zimmer.
the knight	der Ritter
the sword	das Schwert
The knight took the sword.	Der Ritter nahm das Schwert.
the dragon	der Drache
The dragon flew over the mountain.	Der Drache flog über den Berg.
to hit	schlagen
The knight hit the dragon with the sword.	Der Ritter schlug den Drachen mit dem Schwert.
to jump	springen
Nevertheless, the dragon jumped onto the house.	Trotzdem sprang der Drache auf das Haus.
The king wanted to help, but he could not.	Der König wollte helfen, aber er konnte nicht.
to catch	fangen
The prince threw the ring and the queen caught it.	Der Prinz warf den Ring und die Königin fing ihn.
to ride	reiten
The knight rode quickly through the forest.	Der Ritter ritt schnell durch den Wald.
The prince did not find the sword in the forest.	Der Prinz fand das Schwert im Wald nicht.
The people sang a song and drank wine.	Die Leute sangen ein Lied und tranken Wein.
The knight stepped in front of the king and spoke.	Der Ritter trat vor den König und sprach.
The knight banged on the table.	Der Ritter schlug auf den Tisch.
The dragon jumped and caught the bird.	Der Drache sprang und fing den Vogel.
The queen rode to the castle.	Die Königin ritt zum Schloss.