Simple past of irregular verbs (ging, kam, fand)
Präteritum unregelmäßiger Verben
Irregular (strong) verbs form the by changing the stem vowel rather than adding -te.
Structure
Vokalwechsel im Stamm, keine -te-Endung (gehen → ging, kommen → kam, finden → fand)
vowel change in the stem, no -te ending (gehen → ging, kommen → kam, finden → fand)
Details
- Part of Speech
- Tense
- Register
- Standard
Explanation
Irregular (also called strong) verbs form the Präteritum in a completely different way from regular verbs: instead of adding -te, they change the stem vowel.
- gehen → ging
- kommen → kam
- finden → fand
- sehen → sah
There is no -te marker, and the ich and er/sie/es forms take no ending at all. The other endings attach to the changed stem:
- ich ging, du gingst, er/sie/es ging
- wir gingen, ihr gingt, sie/Sie gingen
These vowel changes are not predictable, so each has to be learned individually (typically from a list of starke Verben).
Examples:
- Als Kind ging ich zu Fuß zur Schule. - As a child I walked to school.
- Sie kam viel zu spät. - She came far too late.
- Ich fand den Schlüssel sofort. - I found the key immediately.
Common mistakes: Adding a regular -te ending to a strong (er gehte instead of er ging), or adding an ending to ich/er (ich gingte). The vowel change replaces the -te entirely.
About Simple past of irregular verbs (ging, kam, fand)
Irregular (strong) verbs form the by changing the stem vowel rather than adding -te.
Strong verbs change the stem vowel and add no -te: gehen → ging, sehen → sah, kommen → kam, finden → fand. Endings: ich/er ging, du gingst, wir gingen.
Unregelmäßige (starke) bilden das mit Vokalwechsel statt mit -te.
Caution
There is no -te marker: gehen → ging, kommen → kam, finden → fand. The 1st and 3rd person singular take no ending (ich/er ging). These forms must be memorised individually.