Video 12: Comparison Expressions & Präteritum

Source: Roughly 2 hours 24 minutes total; the first ~37 minutes are entirely dead air/silence (no usable audio) and were skipped, along with a couple of shorter silent gaps later on. Approximate topic timestamp ranges:

• Silence / no usable audio (00:00–37:00) — skipped entirely, no speech
• Tense-specific comparison expressions: im Gegensatz zu früher/heute, im Vergleich zu, correct comparative forms vs. "mehr + adjective" (37:00–50:20)
• Transition/chapter intro to verbs with fixed prepositions and the Präteritum topic (50:20–55:35)
• Silence (55:35–57:07) — skipped
• Präteritum (simple past tense): the three German past tenses, when Präteritum is used vs. Perfekt, the ich/er-sie-es conjugation rule, regular ("schwache") verb formation, and the start of the irregular ("starke") verb list with a worked example using a separable verb (57:07–1:09:50)
• Long silence / dead air through end of recording (1:09:50–2:23:48) — skipped, no usable audio

Topics Covered

• Comparison expressions im Gegensatz zu früher/heute and im Vergleich zu früher ("in contrast to / compared to earlier/today") and the tense rule that goes with each
• Why mehr + adjective (e.g. mehr modern) is wrong in German — comparatives must be formed with -er
• Comma rule: no comma after "in comparison to X" in German (unlike English)
• The three German past tenses: Präteritum, Perfekt (Partizip II), Plusquamperfekt
• When to use Präteritum vs. Perfekt in real usage
• Präteritum conjugation rule: ich and er/sie/es always take the same form
• Regular ("schwache") verb formation: stem + -te/-ete
• Start of the irregular ("starke") verb list (haben/sein/modal verbs already known from A1/A2; new list of ~55 irregular verbs to learn)
• Worked example with a separable verb in Präteritum: einladen → lud ein

Comparison Expressions: im Gegensatz zu / im Vergleich zu

The teacher drilled expressions for making comparisons between "today" and "earlier," with a strict rule about which tense to use with each.

• im Gegensatz zu früher / im Vergleich zu früher → "in contrast to earlier" / "compared to earlier" — when comparing to earlier, the rest of the sentence is in the present tense.
• im Gegensatz zu heute → "in contrast to today" — when comparing to today, the rest of the sentence is in the past tense (because "today" is the reference point and the comparison point becomes the past).
• Example: Im Gegensatz zu heute war die Arbeit in den Fabriken härter. → In contrast to today, work in the factories used to be harder. (past tense because the comparison is "to today")
• Example: Im Vergleich zu früher arbeiten die Menschen heute klüger/smarter. → Compared to earlier, people work smarter today. (present tense because the comparison is "to earlier")
• Rule of thumb given by the teacher: think in English first to decide the tense, then apply it consistently — many learners ignore this and make tense mistakes.
• Other (less essential) synonym expressions mentioned in passing, with the teacher noting the main focus should stay on im Gegensatz zu: früher war es besser/schlechter, ich habe gehört, dass... (I've heard that...).
• Verb position: im Gegensatz zu früher/heute is a sentence-starting phrase, so the conjugated verb must come immediately after it (verb-second rule) — e.g. Im Gegensatz zu früher ist alle Arbeit automatisiert. → In contrast to earlier, all work is automated now.
• No comma: in English we write "in comparison to today, ..." with a comma; in German it is one continuous sentence with no comma after the introductory phrase.
• Worked/corrected student example: Im Gegensatz zu früher sind/haben wir heute mehr Bücher. → In contrast to earlier, we have more books today. The teacher had students add heute (or früher) explicitly so the comparison reference point is unambiguous.
• Another corrected example: Früher war die Diagnose nicht korrekt. → Earlier, the diagnosis was incorrect. The teacher noted the sentence is grammatically fine even without an explicit comparison word, but adding früher makes clear that a comparison is being made.
• Vocabulary used in examples: die Krankheit (illness, plural Krankheiten) — corrected from a student's plural mismatch (article must agree with plural Krankheiten, not singular die Krankheit); die Operation (operation); automatisiert (automated).

Comparatives: why "mehr modern" is wrong

• A student suggested mehr modern ("more modern") by analogy with English "more beautiful, more modern."
• The teacher corrected this: German does not build comparatives with mehr + adjective. Instead, the comparative is formed by adding -er directly to the adjective.
• Correct form: moderner (more modern) — not mehr modern.
• This mirrors how comparatives were already taught for other adjectives (e.g. schön → schöner, intelligent → intelligenter) — German never uses mehr schön or mehr intelligent.
• Infinitive-as-noun aside: (das) Lesen — capitalize the infinitive when using it as a noun (e.g. zum Lesen, "for reading"), and an infinitive clause introduced this way takes a comma before it, e.g. ..., zu lesen.

Präteritum (Simple Past Tense): Introduction

The teacher introduced the new grammar topic for this chapter — the Präteritum — as part of moving into B1-level past tense work.

The three German past tenses

German has only three tenses to express the past (compared to many more in English):

1. Präteritum — simple past tense
2. Partizip II / Perfekt (also called "Perfekt") — already learned (the "haben/sein + past participle" form, e.g. gegessen, geholfen, gemacht)
3. Plusquamperfekt — past perfect (will be covered later)

• Gegenwart = present tense; Vergangenheit = past tense (vocabulary given for the tense names themselves).

When to use Präteritum vs. Perfekt

• In day-to-day spoken German and in everyday writing (e.g. emails), German speakers almost always use the Perfekt (the "have done" form) — this matches how English speakers usually say "I have eaten an apple" / "I have done the homework" rather than the simple past, even though both are technically correct.
• Präteritum is mainly used in formal/written contexts: novels, fairy tales, newspaper articles, reports, and historical narration. It is rarely used in spoken, day-to-day conversation.
• The teacher estimated usage as roughly 80% Perfekt / 20% Präteritum in practice, but B1 learners still need at least a working knowledge of the common Präteritum forms (the full list of forms is saved for B2).
• Already learned in earlier levels: Präteritum of haben (ich hatte, du hattest, er/sie/es hatte...) and sein (ich war, du warst, er/sie/es war...) from A1; Präteritum of modal verbs from A2 (e.g. ich konnte, du konntest, er/sie/es konnte; ich musste; ich sollte).
• New in B1: werden in Präteritum — er wurde Taxifahrer → he became a taxi driver (wurde = Präteritum of werden).

Conjugation rule: ich and er/sie/es are always identical

• A key shortcut rule repeated several times: in any Präteritum verb, the ich-form and the er/sie/es-form are always identical.
  • ich war, er/sie/es war (sein)
  • ich hatte, er/sie/es hatte (haben)
  • ich konnte, er/sie/es konnte (können)
  • ich sollte, er/sie/es sollte (sollen)
• Dictionaries/textbooks always list the Präteritum form according to the 3rd person singular (er/sie/es) — and because of the rule above, that same form also works for ich.

Regular ("schwache") verb formation

• Rule: take the stem of the verb (infinitive minus -en) and add -te (or -ete if needed for pronunciation).
• machen → mach- → machte (root mach + -te).
• arbeiten → arbeit- → arbeitete (not arbeitete with just -te, because "arbeitte" would be hard to pronounce — an extra -e- is inserted: stem + -ete).
• spielen → spiel- → spielte.
• Full conjugation follows the regular endings on top of this -te/-ete base — e.g. for arbeiten: ich arbeitete, du arbeitetest, er/sie/es arbeitete, wir arbeiteten, ihr arbeitetet, sie/Sie arbeiteten — with ich and er/sie/es matching as expected.
• Same pattern for machen: ich machte, du machtest, er/sie/es machte, ...

Irregular ("starke") verbs

• Just as English has irregular past forms that must be memorized (cut → cut, fly → flew, eat → ate), German has unregelmäßige Verben that don't follow the -te/-ete rule and must be learned individually.
• The teacher mentioned a working list of roughly 55 irregular verbs to learn over time (not all in one sitting) — homework pace suggested: about 10 new verbs per day, with short tests the following day.
• Forms are again given according to er/sie/es, and (per the rule above) the same form also applies to ich; the rest of the persons take the regular personal endings on top of that changed stem.
• First batch of irregular Präteritum forms introduced (infinitive → er/sie/es Präteritum form):
  • kommen → kam
  • gehen → ging
  • sehen → sah
  • geben → gab
  • nehmen → nahm
  • lesen → las
  • essen → aß
  • trinken → trank
  • sprechen → sprach
  • finden → fand
  • beginnen → begann
  • anfangen → fing an (separable verb)
  • bleiben → blieb
  • denken → dachte
  • anbieten → bot an (separable verb)
  • empfehlen → empfahl
  • fahren → fuhr
  • fliegen → flog
  • einladen → lud ein (separable verb)
  • nennen → nannte
  • kennen → kannte
  • aussehen → sah aus (separable verb)
  • wissen → wusste
  • bringen → brachte
  • Pattern note for bleiben: the stem vowel changes from ei to ie and the -en ending is dropped, giving blieb.

Worked example: separable verb einladen in Präteritum

• einladen (to invite) is a separable verb; in Präteritum its stem becomes lud and ein stays at the end of the sentence (second-position verb rule, same as present tense separable verbs).
• Conjugation: ich lud ein, du lud(e)st ein, er/sie/es lud ein, wir luden ein, ihr ludet ein, sie/Sie luden ein.
• Example sentence: Wir luden dich gestern zur Party ein. → We invited you to the party yesterday.
• Student Q&A on finden: confirmed that du fandest or du fandst both work (either form is acceptable), and confirmed that wir fanden (not funden) is the correct plural form.

Notes & Tips

• Tense rule to memorize for the exam: im Vergleich/Gegensatz zu früher → present tense; im Gegensatz zu heute → past tense. Decide the reference point first, then pick the tense.
• Never build a German comparative with mehr + adjective — always add -er to the adjective itself (moderner, not mehr modern). This is a very common mistake.
• No comma after introductory comparison phrases in German, even though English uses one.
• Default to Perfekt for everyday speaking and writing (emails, conversation); reserve Präteritum for formal/narrative writing — novels, fairy tales, reports, news articles, historical description.
• Memory aid for all Präteritum conjugation: ich and er/sie/es are always the same form, for every verb without exception.
• Regular verbs: stem + -te, or stem + -ete when the stem already ends in a sound that would be hard to pronounce with just -te (e.g. stems ending in -t or -d, as in arbeiten, reden).
• Irregular verbs have no formation rule — they must be memorized individually, the same way English irregular past tense forms must be memorized. Plan: ~10 irregular verbs per day with short recall tests.
• For separable verbs in Präteritum, the prefix still detaches and moves to the end of the clause, exactly as in the present tense (e.g. lud ein, bot an, sah aus, fing an).