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While the Perfekt is the dominant past tense in spoken German, the Präteritum of strong verbs is essential for reading novels, newspaper articles, fairy tales, and formal writing. Some strong verbs are also commonly used in the Präteritum even in speech. In this lesson, you will learn the patterns and the most important forms.
Strong verbs form the Präteritum through a vowel change in the stem (called Ablaut). Unlike weak verbs, they do not add a -te suffix:
| Feature | Weak Verb (machen) | Strong Verb (gehen) |
|---|---|---|
| Stem change | No | Yes (geh- → ging-) |
| Suffix | -te (machte) | No -te (ging) |
| ich/er form | machte | ging (no ending) |
| Person | Ending |
|---|---|
| ich | — (no ending) |
| du | -st |
| er / sie / es | — (no ending) |
| wir | -en |
| ihr | -t |
| sie / Sie | -en |
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