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     Table of Contents Chapter 15 15.2.2.3 Strong verbs adding an -e
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Chapter 15: Past Tenses

  15.2.2.3 Strong verbs adding an -e

In some cases a pronunciation of the "normal" way of imperfect would be quite difficult. This is the case when the stem of the word ends on a t or d; and in some cases of m or n. If you like you could try:

2nd person singular of present tense of antworten(= to answer) = du antwortst

And because this is not so easy to be done (you might have noticed) an -e is put in between.

du antwortest

This happens in present tense as well as in past tense.

atmen stem: atm(e) antworten stem: antwort(e) rechnen stem: rechn(e)
  to breathe to answer to calculate
  ich atmete ich antwortete ich rechnete
  du atmetest du antwortetest du rechnetest
  er/sie/es atmete er/sie/es antwortete er/sie/es rechnete
  wir atmeten wir antworteten wir rechneten
  ihr atmetet ihr antwortetet ihr rechnetet
  sie atmeten sie antworteten sie rechneten
 

The stem itself does not change and the endings are (apart from the extra -e) the same as in the conjugation of weak verbs.
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