Word
Der Prinz kam und sprach mit der Königin.
Meaning
The prince came and spoke with the queen.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Der Prinz kam und sprach mit der Königin.
Why don't kam and sprach have a -te ending for the past tense?
Because they are irregular (strong) verbs. In the simple past (Präteritum), regular verbs get a -te ending, but strong verbs change their stem vowel instead. For the first person (ich) and third person singular (er/sie/es or der Prinz), strong verbs take no ending at all! So kam and sprach are just the changed stems.
How do I know the vowels change to a in kam and sprach?
You have to memorize them, just like English irregular verbs. Kommen changes to kam, and sprechen changes to sprach. Many strong verbs change their stem vowel to a or o in the Präteritum, so looking out for those letters is a good trick when reading stories.
Wait, isn't Königin a feminine word? Why does it say der Königin?
Yes, die Königin is feminine! However, the preposition mit (with) is a dative preposition, meaning it always forces the noun that follows into the dative case. In the dative case, the feminine article die changes to der.
Why is there no subject after und? Shouldn't it be und er sprach?