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I. Theory and definitions: The imperfect tense in German

Mr. Puddle: Yes, but also you should make a clear distinction between irregular and regular ending in the imperfect tense!

Miss Purrfect: : Sure thing! Danke!

Worth to mention: Separable and inseparable verbs in the imperfect

These verbs are like any other regular or irregular verbs when adding the endings:

Separable verbs:

Sie schaltete das Radio ein.     

She turned on the radio

Inseparable verbs:

Sie besuchte ihre Eltern.         

She visited her parents

Mrs. Puddles gives a tip!

✔️ These verbs are irregular but they have regular endings at imperfect:

Mixed verbs

*If this table doesn't display right, please turn your phone horrizontaly !

Modal verbs

Let’s learn the endings of the imperfect tense at regular verbs:

-te, -test, -te, -ten, -tet, -ten, -ten

“What’s an unchanged stem? Let’s take “kaufen” for example: the root “kauf” doesn’t change at all when conjugated, while an irregular verb, such as “essen” changes the stem:  “esse, isst, esst”.

Mrs. Puddles gives a tip!

The form of the imperfect tense

When we learned the present  tense, we made an important distinction between: regular and irregular verbs. The same rule applies to the imperfect tense. 

Regular verbs:  They have no important changes, these verbs have the same endings attached to their unchanged stem (root).

The use of sein, haben, werden, wissen

The use of  modal verbs

Maya didn't buy a car.

He learned to dance in school.

I was on vacation in Austria last summer.

You ate everything!

We had a dog.

They didn't know anything about the project

I wanted to buy a car.

The teacher couldn't show the results.

Regular verbs:

Maya kaufte kein Auto. 

Er lernte Tanzen in der Schule.

Iregular verbs: Sie trinkt einen heißen Tee.

Ich war letzten Sommer in Österreich im Urlaub.

Sie aß alles!

Mixed verbs: Ich liebe meinen guten Mann 

Wir hatten einen Hund.

Sie wussten nichts über das Projekt

Modal verbs: Wir wollen dieses schöne Haus.

Ich wollte ein Auto kaufen.

Der Lehrer konnte die Ergebnisse nicht zeigen.

As we previously mentioned, the modal verbs are often used in the spoken language at the imperfect tense.

There are some rules you should follow:

✔️ Umlauts are dropped from the stem of the modal verbs: können - Ich konnte

✔️ These verbs have the same endings like regular verbs

✔️ Changing the vowel   

o ⤑ ö,    u ⤑ ü,    a ⤑ ä

Let’s learn the endings of the imperfect tense at irregular verbs

*If this table doesn't display right, please turn your phone horrizontaly !

*If this table doesn't display right, please turn your phone horrizontaly !

Irregular verbs: change their stem by

*If this table doesn't display right, please turn your phone horrizontaly !

It sounds unnatural for natives not to use these verbs in the imperfect tense when talking about past events, you should learn them by heart!  

Mrs. Puddles gives a tip!

✔️   Practical examples. After you break-down the sentences and understand better how it works, test your knowledge and try to translate them.

V. Let's practice! - The imperfect tense

Mr. Puddle: Don’t forget to use mnemonics and learn the endings in a comparative manner!

Mr. Puddle: I hope so! Always use the imperfect tense in the written language if you’re writing something formal, or when using the modal verbs while speaking about the past.

Miss Purrfect:  The endings didn’t seem so difficult for me. I just add -t to the present ending with a few exceptions …

Miss Purrfect: : I also learned that there are mixed verbs, which are irregular as form but regular in the endings.

Miss Purrfect: Mr Puddles, this lesson is an easy one!

IV. Purrrfection explained! - The imperfect tense

✔️ Learn the endings in a comparative manner:

✔️ 1st (Ich) and 3rd(er/sie/es) persons have the same endings at singular 

• The regular - te
• The irregular: no endings

✔️ 1st (wir) and 3rd(sie) persons + polite pronoun (Sie) have the same endings at plural

The regular: ten

The irregular: en (+formal pronoun)

The mixed verbs and the modal verbs have the same endings like the regular verbs.

 III.  Tips & Tricks : How to learn them easily? -  The imperfect tense

II.  Practical examples - The imperfect tense

✔️  The English “past simple” of the verbs

✔️  Commonly used in the written language (non-fiction and fiction books, textbooks,  newspapers, magazines, articles) for narratives or formal writing. 

✔️  It is not used in the spoken language ( instead we use the present perfect - see our next lesson-link aici); 

✔️  There are only a few exceptions when the imperfect tense is used in the spoken language:

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The imperfect tense in German

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