Kühlte

Kühlte is the simple past tense (Präteritum) form of the German verb kühlen, meaning to cool or chill. It can appear in different persons: ich kühlte, du kühltest, er/sie/es kühlte, wir kühlten, ihr kühltet, sie kühlten. The form with umlaut on the stem vowel is typical for this verb in its past tense.

In standard usage, kühlte is more common in written narration and formal contexts. In everyday spoken German, the Perfekt is often preferred, for example: ich habe gekühlt, du hast gekühlt, er hat gekühlt. The past participle gekühlt is used with auxiliary haben to form the present perfect: Ich habe die Getränke gekühlt.

Kühlte is typically used to describe a completed cooling action in the past, such as cooling a beverage, a meal, or a substance, rather than a continuing or current state. Example sentences: Er kühlte den Wein, damit er nicht verflüchtigte. Sie kühlte den Saft im Kühlschrank. In narrative prose, kühlte can help convey sequences of actions in the past.

Etymology and related forms: kühlen is a regular weak verb in German. The past tense forms add -te and -ten endings according to person and number, with the stem vowel often umlauted in the singular present forms and preserved in the past tense. Related nouns include Kühlung (cooling or refrigeration) and Kühlschrank (refrigerator). See also kühlen, Kühlung, and Kühlschrank for related concepts.