German Regular Verbs: Past Tenses

Regular German verbs follow an easy-to-learn and predictable pattern in both past tenses (simple past, present perfect). Once you learn the pattern for one regular German verb, you know how all German verbs are conjugated in the past.
The irregular verbs don't follow the same rules in the past, but since most German verbs are regular, this makes your learning task somewhat simpler.



The chart below shows a sample regular German verb in the simple past tense and the present perfect.

All regular German verbs follow the same pattern. 


The Basics (Simple Past)


Any regular German verb uses the basic -te ending to form the simple past, similar to the -ed past ending in English. The past-tense ending is added to the verb stem exactly as in the present tense. "He played" thus becomes er spielte. To conjugate any regular verb in the simple past, you simply add the past-tense ending to the stem.

As in the present tense, each "person" (he, you, they, etc.) requires its own ending on the verb. There are four (4) unique endings in the German simple past tense, one less than in the present tense (because the endings for ich and the third person are identical in the past).

The simple past tense endings are: -te (ich, er/sie/es), -test (du), -tet (ihr), and -ten (Sie, wir, sie [pl.]). Unlike English, the past tense ending is not always the same: I played = ich spielte, we played = wir spielten.

Now let's look at all the conjugations of spielen in the simple past tense. (To learn more about when to use the simple past versus the present perfect (below), see The Two German Past Tenses.)

SPIELEN / TO PLAY Simple Past Tense - Imperfekt
Deutsch	English	Sample Sentence
SINGULAR
ich spielte	I played	Ich spielte Basketball.
du spieltest	you (fam.) played	Spieltest du Schach? (chess)
er spielte	he played	Er spielte mit mir. (with me)
sie spielte	she played	Sie spielte Karten. (cards)
es spielte	it played	Es spielte keine Rolle. (It didn't matter.)
PLURAL
wir spielten	we played	Wir spielten Basketball.
ihr spieltet	you (guys) played	Spieltet ihr Monopoly?
sie spielten	they played	Sie spielten Golf.
Sie spielten	you played	Spielten Sie heute? (Sie, formal "you," is both singular and plural.)

The Basics (Present Perfect)

All regular German verbs have a basic past participle form based on the third person singular form. The third person form of the verb spielen is (er) spielt. Add the ge- prefix to that and you get the past participle: gespielt. All regular verbs follow this same pattern: gesagt, gemacht,getanzt, etc.

To form the present perfect tense, you take the past participle (gespielt/played) and use it with an auxiliary or helping verb (usually a form of haben, sometimes sein). The present perfect tense gets its name from the fact that you combine the present tense of the auxiliary verb with the participle to form the tense. (The past perfect is similar, using the past tense of the auxiliary verb.) In most cases, the past participle is placed at the end of the sentence: "Wir haben die ganze Nacht getanzt." (We danced all night.)

To say "I have played" (or "I played") in the German present perfect, you say: "Ich habe gespielt." After you study the chart below, you will grasp the idea even better.

SPIELEN / TO PLAY Present Perfect Tense - Perfekt
Deutsch	English	Sample Sentence
SINGULAR
ich habe gespielt	I played I have played	Ich habe Basketball gespielt.
du hast gespielt	you (fam.) played you have played	Hast du Schach gespielt?
er hat gespielt	he played he has played	Er hat mit mir gespielt.
sie hat gespielt	she played she has played	Sie hat Karten gespielt.
es hat gespielt	it played it has played	Es hat keine Rolle gespielt. (It didn't matter.)
PLURAL
wir haben gespielt	we played we have played	Wir haben Basketball gespielt.
ihr habt gespielt	you (guys) played you have played	Habt ihr Monoploy gespielt?
sie haben gespielt	they played they have played	Sie haben Golf gespielt.
Sie haben gespielt	you played you have played	Haben Sie heute gespielt?

Notice in the chart above that the German present perfect tense can be translated into English in two ways, with or without "have." Also be careful to avoid the incorrect use of the German present perfect for English expressions like, "I have lived in Frankfurt for five years (now)." In German that would be expressed in the present tense with seit: "Ich wohne seit fünf Jahren in Frankfurt."

More Regular Verbs Notice the pattern?
English	Deutsch	Simple Past	Past Participle
answer	antworten	antwortete*	geantwortet*
ask	fragen	fragte	gefragt
build	bauen	baute	gebaut
cost	kosten	kostete*	gekostet*
end	enden	endete*	geendet*
hear	hören	hörte	gehört
say	sagen	sagte	gesagt
*A regular verb whose stem ends in -d or -t adds a connecting e before the -te (past) or -t (past participle) ending.