The literary Präteritum and old Konjunktiv II forms

In conversation most Germans use the perfect, and outside sein, haben and the modal verbs the Präteritum hardly appears. Literature is different. Novels and stories are narrated in the Präteritum, and that brings in strong verb forms that learners rarely hear: schwieg, mied, glich, rang, sann, focht.

Strong forms that live in books

• Lange schwieg sie, dann stand sie auf und verließ das Zimmer.For a long time she said nothing, then she got up and left the room.
• Er mied die Gesellschaft seiner früheren Freunde.He avoided the company of his former friends.
• Das Haus glich einer Ruine.The house looked like a ruin.
• Er rang lange mit sich, ehe er den Brief abschickte.He struggled with himself for a long time before he sent the letter.

Erschrecken has two verbs in one: intransitive erschrak (got a fright) and transitive erschreckte (frightened someone).

Konjunktiv II from the Präteritum

Konjunktiv II of strong verbs is built on the Präteritum stem, usually with an umlaut, plus -e: kam, käme; ging, ginge; starb, stürbe. In speech, only a few survive: wäre, hätte, käme, ginge, wüsste, gäbe, täte, ließe, fände, bliebe, läge, stünde. For the rest, people say würde + infinitive. Literature, and very careful writing, keeps the old forms.

• Wenn er doch nur käme!If only he would come!
• Ginge es nach mir, blieben wir noch eine Woche.If it were up to me, we'd stay another week.
• Sie fürchtete, er stürbe, bevor sie ihn wiedersähe.She feared he would die before she saw him again.

Forms with ü such as stürbe, hülfe, würfe come from older Präteritum vowels. Where two forms exist (stünde, stände), both are correct.

Free indirect speech

Novels often slip into a character's thoughts without dachte sie. The sentences stay in the third person and the Präteritum, but they contain the character's questions, exclamations and time words: morgen with a past verb is the giveaway. Future thoughts use würde.

• Morgen war Weihnachten.Tomorrow was Christmas.
• Würde sie ihn je wiedersehen?Would she ever see him again?

Reading tip: when you meet an unfamiliar past form in a novel, look for the vowel change (i, a, u in singen, sang, gesungen; ei, ie, ie in schweigen, schwieg, geschwiegen). It usually points to a verb you already know.

Common mistakes

• schweigte, meidete, gleichte: these are strong verbs, schwieg, mied, glich.
• er starbe: Konjunktiv II takes the umlaut, stürbe.
• Using literary Konjunktiv II in conversation. Ich hülfe dir gern sounds like a period drama; say Ich würde dir gern helfen.
• Ich erschreckte, als ich ihn sah. For "I got a fright", use erschrak.
• Taking free indirect speech for the narrator's opinion. It shows what the character thinks.