German · A1 · Family moment
Tell Me About Today in German
Use these gentle questions and comments to chat with your child about their day. Practise war (was) and hatte (had), two past-tense forms commonly used in everyday German.
What you'll learn
- Ask about school, lunch and football.
- Use war and hatte to talk about the past.
- Notice how verb forms change with ich, du and wir.
German phrases for tell me about today
Wie war die Schule?
How was school?
War means “was.” German uses die before Schule here.
War dein Mittagessen lecker?
Was your lunch tasty?
Start with War to ask a yes/no question. Dein means “your” when speaking to your child.
Hat Fußball Spaß gemacht?
Was football fun?
German naturally uses Spaß machen for “to be fun.” Hat … gemacht is a different past-tense pattern.
Ich war stolz auf dich.
I was proud of you.
Learn stolz auf dich as a chunk meaning “proud of you.”
Dein Zahn war locker.
Your tooth was loose.
Locker means “loose” when describing a tooth.
Du hattest einen vollen Tag.
You had a busy day.
Use hattest with du. Einen vollen Tag means “a busy day.”
Wir hatten Nudeln zum Mittagessen.
We had pasta for lunch.
Use hatten with wir. Zum Mittagessen means “for lunch.”
Ich hatte auch einen Wackelzahn.
I had a loose tooth too.
A Wackelzahn is a loose or wobbly tooth. Auch means “too” or “also.”
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 Schule
school
German nouns begin with a capital letter.
das Mittagessen
lunch
Use zum Mittagessen for “for lunch.”
lecker
tasty
A common, child-friendly word for food that tastes good.
Spaß machen
to be fun
The past-tense phrase hat Spaß gemacht means “was fun.”
stolz auf dich
proud of you
Use dich when speaking directly to one child.
der Wackelzahn
loose tooth; wobbly tooth
A common word when children start losing their baby teeth.
die Nudeln
pasta; noodles
This is a plural noun.
Simple past: was and had
The German simple past is called Präteritum. War comes from sein (to be), and hatte comes from haben (to have). These forms are common in spoken German.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| I | ich war / ich hatte | Ich hatte einen Wackelzahn. — I had a loose tooth. |
| You: one child | du warst / du hattest | Du hattest einen vollen Tag. — You had a busy day. |
| He, she, it | er/sie/es war / er/sie/es hatte | Es war lecker. — It was tasty. |
| We | wir waren / wir hatten | Wir hatten Nudeln. — We had pasta. |
Statements and questions with war
In a basic statement, the verb is in second position. In a yes/no question, put the verb first. With a question word such as wie (how), put the verb immediately after it.
| Use | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Statement | Subject + war + description | Dein Zahn war locker. — Your tooth was loose. |
| Yes/no question | War + subject + description? | War dein Mittagessen lecker? — Was your lunch tasty? |
| Question with how | Wie + war + subject? | Wie war die Schule? — How was school? |
More examples
War die Schule schön? — Ja, sie war schön.
Was school nice? — Yes, it was nice.
Sie refers back to the feminine noun die Schule.
Hattest du auch einen Wackelzahn? — Ja, ich hatte auch einen Wackelzahn.
Did you have a loose tooth too? — Yes, I had a loose tooth too.
German puts hattest first in the question; it does not add a word for “did.”