Learn the Präteritum forms of common unregelmäßige Verben like sein (war), kommen (kam), rufen (rief), and helfen (half), focusing on their stem changes for effective past tense use.
- Irregular verbs in the simple past almost always change the stem.
| ich | du | er/sie/es | wir | ihr | sie/Sie |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| war (sein) | warst | war | waren | wart | waren |
| kam (kommen) | kamst | kam | kamen | kamt | kamen |
| rief (rufen) | riefst | rief | riefen | rieft | riefen |
| half (helfen) | halfst | half | halfen | halft | halfen |
Exercise 1: Präteritum: unregelmäßige Verben
Instruction: Fill in the correct word.
war, kam, rief, kamen, half
1.
Helfen:
Der Sanitäter ... den verletzten Personen.
(The paramedic helped the injured persons.)
2.
Sein:
Das Rote Kreuz ... vor Ort aktiv.
(The Red Cross was active on site.)
3.
Kommen:
Die Feuerwehr ... in wenigen Minuten.
(The fire brigade arrived in a few minutes.)
4.
Rufen:
Er ... laut nach Hilfe im Notfall.
(He shouted loudly for help in an emergency.)
5.
Kommen:
Der Notarzt ... schnell zur Notaufnahme.
(The emergency doctor came quickly to the emergency room.)
6.
Kommen:
Die Helfer ... direkt vom Einsatz zurück.
(The helpers came back directly from the operation.)
7.
Helfen:
Die Ärztin ... dem Patienten sofort.
(The doctor helped the patient immediately.)
8.
Sein:
Der Notruf ... lebenswichtig in dieser Situation.
(The emergency call was life-saving in this situation.)
Exercise 2: Multiple Choice
Instruction: Choose the sentence with the correct simple past form of the irregular verb:
1.
This is the present tense form, not the simple past.
Wrong stem form; 'kommen' in the simple past is 'kam', not 'komte'.
2.
Wrong form; 'helfen' in the simple past is 'half', not 'halfte'.
Wrong past form; 'geholfen' is the past participle, not the simple past.
3.
This form 'riefte' does not exist in the simple past.
Wrong stem form; correct is 'rief', not 'ruffte'.
4.
Wrong form; 'wart' is 2nd person singular, not for 'we'.
Wrong form; for 'we' you need 'waren', not 'war'.
