Präteritum of Haben & Sein

The Präteritum (also called the simple past or imperfect) is the other main past tense in German. While the Perfekt dominates spoken German, the Präteritum is preferred in written German — novels, newspaper articles, fairy tales, and formal reports.

However, there are two verbs whose Präteritum forms are used constantly even in everyday speech: haben (to have) and sein (to be). Germans almost always say "ich war" (I was) and "ich hatte" (I had) rather than the Perfekt equivalents. These are the two most important Präteritum forms to learn first.

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Präteritum of Sein (to Be)

Person	Präteritum	Translation
ich	war	I was
du	warst	you were (informal)
er / sie / es	war	he / she / it was
wir	waren	we were
ihr	wart	you were (plural informal)
sie / Sie	waren	they were / you were (formal)

Key Points