24 Imperfect Tense

The imperfect tense expresses a sense of prolonged action in the past.

Wer fehlte heute in Mathe? Who was missing today in mathematics?

For verbs regularly conjugated, the imperfect tense is formed by adding the appropriate endings, as shown in the paradigm below, to the stem of the verb.

For verbs that are irregularly conjugated, the imperfect tense is formed by adding the imperfect endings for irregular verbs, as shown below, to the third-person singular of the verb. The Vocab Builder shows the third-person singular form of the imperfect tense for all irregular verbs.

	Regularly Conjugated	Irregularly Conjugated	Irregularly Conjugated	Irregularly Conjugated
	*speilen* “to play”	*sein* “to be”	*haben* “to have”	*essen* “to eat”
ich	speilte	war	hatte	aß
du (familiar)	speiltest	warst	hattest	aßt
er / sie / es	spleilte	war	hatte	aß
wir	spleilten	waren	hatten	aßen
ihr (familiar)	spleiltet	wart	hattet	aßt
sie	spleilten	waren	hatten	aßen
Sie (polite)	spleilten	waren	hatten	aßen

Imperfect Endings

Once again, this process might look complicated, but it is covered by a few simple rules.

Regular verbs

Use the rules in chapter 1 to get the stem of the infinitive. Then add the finite endings to the stem of the infinitive. There are only a few to remember:

te is added to form the first-person and third-person singular.
test is added to form the second-person singular (familiar).
tet is added to form the second-person plural (familiar).
ten is added to form all the others.

Add an e to separate similarly articulated sounds, when adding the finite endings:

Sein Arm blutete. His arm was bleeding.

Irregular Verbs

The Vocab Builder gives you the third-person singular form of the imperfect tense for irregular verbs. From this form you can also work out the forms for the other persons.

The first-person singular is the same as the third-person singular.
st is added to form the second-person singular (familiar).
t or et is added to form the second-person plural (familiar).
en or n is added to form all the others.

If the third-person singular ends in s, ß, or ss, then just a t is added to form the second-person singular (familiar).

Last Chapter

This is the last chapter of German Introductory Grammar.