Simple Past / Imperfect Tense Flashcards

Question 1

Q

Imperfect Tense:

Answer

A

In English, this tense corresponds to I did, you saw, he cried, etc. and is used less often in spoken German than the present perfect tense. It is used more often in writing to tell a sequence of past events. Nevertheless, even in conversational German, sein, haben, werden, wissen and the modal verbs are preferred in the simple past tense than in the present perfect tense. In addition, the simple past tense is commonly used in clauses that begin with als (when).

Question 2

Q

Regular Verbs:

Answer

A

All regular verbs add these endings to their original stems:

te
ten
test
tet
te
ten

Question 3

Q

-d or -t:

Answer

A

Verb stems ending in-d or -t,add an-ebefore all endings for ease of pronunciation.

Question 4

Q

Simple Past of sein, haben & werden:

Answer

A

Person | sein | haben | werden
ich | war | hatte | wurde
du | warst | hattest | wurdest
er, sie, es | war | hatte | wurde
wir | waren | hatten | wurden
ihr | wart | hattet | wurdet
sie | waren | hatten | wurden

Question 5

Q

Modal Verbs:

Answer

A

For the modal verbs, drop the umlaut found in the infinitive before adding the endings. Mögen changes the g to ch as well.

Question 6

Q

Simple Past of Modals:

Answer

A

Question 7

Q

Mixed Verbs:

Answer

A

The following verbs are called mixed verbs because although they have an irregular stem, they still use the imperfect endings for regular verbs. These are the same stems that are used in the present perfect tense as well.

Question 8

Q

Simple Past of Mixed Verbs:

Answer

A

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Simple Past / Imperfect Tense Flashcards

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