Aït

Aßt is a form found in German-language texts that is primarily encountered in dialect writing and historical orthography. It corresponds to a tense of the verb essen in certain non-standard varieties and is not considered part of Modern Standard German. In dialect usage or older texts, forms resembling aßt may appear in phrases such as du aßt, referring to the second-person singular.

Linguistic notes and orthography. The base stem from essen in the past tense is aß, and dialectal or archaic spellings sometimes attach a final -t to yield aßt. The exact spelling varies by region and period, and in many modern writings you will instead see the form du aßest in more formal historical texts. The sequence ß (Eszett) in aßt reflects German orthography where ß represents the s sound after long vowels or diphthongs; in uppercase contexts, ß is typically written as SS or, in new orthography, as ẞ.

Usage and context. Today, simple past forms of essen are uncommon in everyday spoken German. When used in writing, aßt appears mainly as a representation of regional pronunciation or as an archaic form in literature rather than as a standard conjugation. In contemporary standard German, the preferred written forms for the second-person singular past tense are found in dialect spellings or in the traditional, regional texts rather than in formal usage.

See also: German language, Eszett, German dialects, German orthography.