Key learning points

1. Weak verbs form the imperfect tense by adding these endings to the verb stem: -te, -test, -te, -ten, -tet, -ten.
2. Strong verbs have irregular stems in the imperfect tense, with vowel changes and endings: -, st, -, en, t, en.
3. The imperfect tense of ‘sein’, ‘haben’, modal verbs and 'es gab' are commonly used in spoken as well as written German.
4. Use ‘früher’ with a past tense to mean ‘in the past’ or ‘used to’.
5. The BORDER acronym is a useful tool to respond fully and accurately to bullet point writing prompts.

Keywords

• Imperfect - German single-word past tense used mainly to narrate past events in writing; for example, 'war', 'hatte', 'gab', 'fand'

• BORDER - acronym used to respond fully and accurately to bullet point writing prompts

Common misconception