Lächelte

Lächelte is the simple past tense (Präteritum) form of the German verb lächeln, meaning to smile. It is used to describe a past event or state in written or formal narrative and translates to "smiled" in English. The form serves as a typical past-tense marker in German storytelling, especially in literature and journalism.

Conjugation and morphology: lächeln is a weak (regular) verb. In the Präteritum, the first and third person singular share the form lächelte (ich lächelte, er/sie/es lächelte). The second person singular takes du lächeltest, and the plural forms are wir lächelten, ihr lächelten, sie/Sie lächelten. The stem vowel appears with ä in the present tense (ich lächle, du lächelst, er lächelt) and remains ä in the Präteritum form lächelte.

Usage and nuances: lächelte is commonly found in written German to convey a past action with a sense of completeness. In everyday spoken language, the Perfekt form is more frequent (er hat gelächelt). The verb describes a facial expression and can be combined with accompanying context or modifiers that suggest tone, warmth, or politeness.

Related forms and notes: the corresponding noun is das Lächeln, referring to the smile itself. Other related verbs include anlächeln (to smile at someone) and geglänzten contexts where a smile indicates mood or social interaction. As a past-tense form, lächelte helps situate actions in narrative time and contributes to descriptive prose.