So habe ich gedacht.  That’s what I thought. Mastering German Mixed Verbs in the Perfekt and Präteritum

In this post we’ll learn about German weak verbs in the Perfekt, also known as the conversational past, and Präteritum, also known as the narrative past. First, we’ll start by defining the differences between these two German past tenses. Then we’ll explain the three different kinds of verbs in German – weak, strong, and mixed. After that we’ll give a summary of the forms of mixed verbs that you need to know. Next, we’ll explain how to use German mixed verbs in the Perfekt, and then we’ll move on to the Präteritum. Finally, we’ll wrap up with a practice exercise. We’ll include examples throughout.

German Perfekt vs. Präteritum: What’s the Difference?

First, let’s start by defining the two different past tenses that you use in German. Those are the Perfekt, also known as the Conversational Past, and the Präteritum, also known as the Simple Past or Narrative Past. These tenses differ both in form and in use. The Perfekt is a compound tense, meaning it uses an auxiliary verb and a past participle. This is exactly like the English present perfect (has gone, have seen, etc.). The Präteritum is a simple tense, using just one word, like the English simple past (went, saw, etc.)

The difference in usage is not like in English, though. The Perfekt is typically a spoken tense, used in everyday speech or informal writing. The Präteritum is usually a more formal tense, used in written stories, news, and formal writing. But a few common verbs – haben (to have), sein (to be), werden (to become), modals like können (can) or wollen (want), and just a few other verbs – are typically used in the Präteritum even in spoken or informal language.

Here’s a summary of the differences between the German Perfekt and Präteritum.

Weak, Strong, and Mixed German Verbs

Now let’s turn to an important distinction when forming the German past tense.  German verbs are divided into three categories: weak, strong, and mixed. It’s important to know which category a verb belongs to, because that will determine how to form its simple past (for the Präteritum) and its past participle (for the Perfekt).

Weak Verbs

Weak verbs are regular verbs that take a simple ending in the past and past participle. An example is arbeiten (to work), gearbeitet (worked), arbeitete (worked). This is exactly like the regular/weak English verb work, which takes a regular –ed ending in both the past participle (has worked) and simple past (worked).

• Learn about the Perfekt/Conversational Past of Weak Verbs in this post.
• Learn about the Präteritum/Narrative Past of Weak Verbs in this post.

Strong Verbs

Strong verbs, which we’ll focus on here, are irregular verbs that have a vowel shift and do not take the regular –t– in the past tense. An example is essen (to eat), gegessen (eaten), aß (ate). This is exactly like the English verb eat, which has a vowel change in the past, and which doesn’t take the regular –ed ending. German strong verbs have unpredictable vowel shifts, both in the past participle (gegessen eaten, gegangen gone, gesprochen spoken) and the Präteritum (aß ate, ging went, sprach spoke). This system looks very much like English strong verbs (take, took, taken; sing, sang sung; drive, drove, driven, and so on.)

• Learn about the Perfekt/Conversational Past of Strong Verbs in this post.
• Learn about the Präteritum/Narrative Past of Strong Verbs in this post.

Mixed Verbs

The last category of German verbs is mixed verbs. These verbs take the regular ending –t, like weak verbs, but they also have a vowel shift, like strong verbs. An example is denken (to think), gedacht (thought), dachte (thought). English verbs like think are similar to German mixed verbs. They have a vowel shift (think > thought) but also take the past ending –t. There aren’t many mixed verbs in either language, but since a few common verbs are mixed, you should learn them.

Forms of German Mixed Verbs

German mixed verbs behave in some ways like weak verbs, and in other ways like strong verbs. Like weak verbs, they take an –e ending in the ich and er/sie/es forms of the Präteritum. But like strong verbs, they have a vowel shift in the past participle. (Or in the case of backen, the past participle ends in –n, as do the past participles of strong verbs.)

*You’ll also hear gesendet and gewendetas the past participles of senden and wenden.

German Mixed  Verbs in the Perfekt or Conversational Past

Remember that the Perfekt or conversational past is the tense that you’ll mostly use in speech when expressing the past.

To form the Perfekt, use the auxiliary haben and the past participle. Sein is used with verbs of motion or change of state, and the only mixed verb that uses sein is rennen (to run). Remember that the past participle comes at the end of the sentence.

• Wir haben Brot gebacken.
  We baked bread.
• Das habe ich nie gewusst!
  I never knew that!
• Hast du an deine Freunde gedacht?
  Did you think about your friends?
• Der Junge ist los gerannt.
  The boy ran away.

Prefix Verbs Derived from Mixed Verbs

Remember that past participles of separable prefix verbs insert -ge- between the prefix and the verb base. This applies to separable prefix verbs derived from mixed verbs as well.

However, past participles of inseparable prefix verbs do not take ge- at all in the past participle

• Was hast du zur Party mitgebracht?
  What did you bring to the party?
• Wir haben über die Frage nachgedacht.
  We thought about the problem.
• Wie haben Sie Ihre Zeit verbracht?
  How did you spend your time?
• Ich habe deine Schwester nicht erkannt.
  I didn’t recognize your sister.

German Mixed Verbs in the Präteritum or Narrative Past

To form the German Präteritum of mixed verbs, start with the basic form (ich or er/sie/es) and add the narrative past endings. Notice that there are no endings on the ich or er/sie/es forms, so these serve as the basic forms.

Remember that the narrative past for most verbs is typically used in storytelling, more formal writing, and in business or academic contexts. Here are some examples in such contexts:

• Die Polizei brachte den Verdächtigen gestern Abend zur Wache.
  The police brought the suspect to the station last night.
• Das Unternehmen erkannte frühzeitig den Bedarf an nachhaltigen Lösungen.
  The company recognized the need for sustainable solutions early on.
• Der alte Zauberer dachte lange nach, bevor er den Zauberspruch sprach.
  The old wizard thought for a long time before he spoke the magic spell.

Practice

A. Perfekt

Transform each of the following sentences into the Perfekt, and then translate. Answers are given below.

1. Ich denke oft an meine Kindheit.
2. Er bringt seiner Kollegin jeden Morgen Kaffee.
3. Sie kennt die neue Chefin noch nicht.
4. Wir brennen ein Lagerfeuer im Garten.
5. Ihr denkt immer sehr logisch.
6. Ich erkenne das Problem sofort.
7. Sie bringt ihre Unterlagen zur Besprechung.
8. Wir nennen das Produkt „GreenTech“.
9. Der Manager sendet eine E-Mail an das Team.
10. Du wendest das neue Verfahren richtig an.

B. Präteritum

Now transform each of the following sentences into the Präteritum, then give the translations. Answers are below.

1. Die Firma denkt über eine Fusion mit einem Wettbewerber nach.
2. Der Professor kennt die neuesten Forschungsergebnisse bereits.
3. Die Journalistin nennt mehrere Gründe für den Rücktritt des Ministers.
4. Der Vorstand brennt für innovative Technologien und nachhaltige Lösungen.
5. Die Wissenschaftlerin bringt ihre Ergebnisse regelmäßig zur Veröffentlichung.

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Answer Key

A.

1. Ich habe oft an meine Kindheit gedacht. I often thought about my childhood.
2. Er hat seiner Kollegin jeden Morgen Kaffee gebracht. He brought his colleague coffee every morning.
3. Sie hat die neue Chefin noch nicht gekannt. She didn’t know the new boss yet.
4. Wir haben ein Lagerfeuer im Garten gebrannt. We burned a campfire in the garden.
5. Ihr habt immer sehr logisch gedacht. You (pl.) always thought very logically.
6. Ich habe das Problem sofort erkannt. I recognized the problem immediately.
7. Sie hat ihre Unterlagen zur Besprechung gebracht. She brought her documents to the meeting.
8. Wir haben das Produkt „GreenTech“ genannt. We called the product “GreenTech.”
9. Der Manager hat eine E-Mail an das Team gesandt. The manager sent an email to the team.
10. Du hast das neue Verfahren richtig angewandt. You applied the new method correctly.

B.

1. Die Firma dachte über eine Fusion mit einem Wettbewerber nach. The company considered a merger with a competitor.
2. Der Professor kannte die neuesten Forschungsergebnisse bereits. The professor already knew / was already familiar with the latest research findings.
3. Die Journalistin nannte mehrere Gründe für den Rücktritt des Ministers. The journalist named several reasons for the minister’s resignation.
4. Der Vorstand brannte für innovative Technologien und nachhaltige Lösungen. The board was passionate about innovative technologies and sustainable solutions.
5. Die Wissenschaftlerin brachte ihre Ergebnisse regelmäßig zur Veröffentlichung. The scientist regularly submitted her results for publication.

Photo by Eddson Lens: https://www.pexels.com/photo/runners-participating-in-berlin-marathon-event-29400389/