German · A1 · Family moment
Our Lovely Day in German
Gentle phrases for remembering your day during evening cuddles. Practise war (was) and hatten (had), with natural German expressions for naps, milk and baths.
What you'll learn
- Talk warmly about a day together.
- Use war to describe how something was.
- Recognise hatte, hattest and hatten as past forms of haben.
- Notice that German often uses different expressions for English phrases with had.
German phrases for our lovely day
Deine Milch war warm.
Your milk was warm.
Use deine before the feminine noun Milch.
Dein Bad war schön.
Your bath was nice.
Use dein before the neuter noun Bad. Schön can mean nice or lovely.
Der Spaziergang war ruhig.
The walk was quiet.
Ruhig can describe something quiet or peaceful.
Ich war glücklich mit dir.
I was happy with you.
Mit dir means with you when speaking to one child.
Du hast ein langes Schläfchen gemacht.
You had a long nap.
German naturally says ein Schläfchen machen for having a nap. Hast … gemacht puts this in the past.
Du hast etwas Milch getrunken.
You had some milk.
For milk your child drank, German naturally uses hast … getrunken (drank). Etwas means some.
Du hast ein warmes Bad genommen.
You had a warm bath.
German says ein Bad nehmen for having a bath. Hast … genommen puts this in the past.
Wir hatten einen schönen Tag.
We had a lovely day.
Wir hatten means we had.
Hear these phrases and practise them
Tildi plays every phrase out loud, tests you in five-minute lessons and builds them into bedtime stories from your own picture books.
Try it free for 7 daysKey words
die Milch
milk
A feminine noun: deine Milch means your milk.
das Bad
bath
A neuter noun: dein Bad means your bath.
der Spaziergang
walk
A walk taken for pleasure, rather than the action of walking.
das Schläfchen
nap
A gentle, everyday word for a short sleep.
der Tag
day
Einen schönen Tag means a lovely day in the phrase with hatten.
Was and were: past forms of sein
Sein means to be. Its simple past forms are common in everyday German. Use war with ich and singular things, warst with du, and waren with wir. Describing words after war stay unchanged.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| I was | ich war | Ich war glücklich. |
| You were | du warst | Du warst glücklich. |
| Something was | singular subject + war | Deine Milch war warm. |
| We were | wir waren | Wir waren glücklich. |
Had: past forms of haben
Haben means to have. Its simple past changes with the subject. English had is not always translated with hatte: German often uses a specific action verb instead.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| I had | ich hatte | Ich hatte einen schönen Tag. |
| You had | du hattest | Du hattest einen schönen Tag. |
| We had | wir hatten | Wir hatten einen schönen Tag. |
Talking about past activities
Everyday spoken German often uses the Perfekt for activities. In these phrases, du hast comes near the start and the past participle comes at the end. Learn each expression as a chunk.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Had a nap | hast … gemacht | Du hast ein Schläfchen gemacht. |
| Had milk | hast … getrunken | Du hast Milch getrunken. |
| Had a bath | hast … genommen | Du hast ein Bad genommen. |
More examples
Dein Bad war warm.
Your bath was warm.
Swap schön for warm to describe the bath differently.
Wir waren glücklich.
We were happy.
Use waren with wir.
Du hattest einen schönen Tag.
You had a lovely day.
Use hattest when the subject is du.