Wuchsen

Wuchsen is the simple past (preterite) form of the German verb wachsen, meaning to grow or to increase in size, extent, or number. It is used with plural subjects in the standard past tense. For example, wir wuchsen means “we grew,” and sie wuchsen means “they grew.” The corresponding singular past forms are ich wuchs (I grew) and er wuchs (he grew).

The verb wachsen is irregular, with a vowel change in the past tense. The present tense forms are ich wachse, du wächst, er wächst, wir wachsen, ihr wachst, sie wachsen. The past participle is gewachsen, and the perfect tense is formed with sein: ist gewachsen.

In modern usage, the forms du wuchsest and ihr wuchstet are considered archaic or literary and are rarely used in everyday speech. The standard past tense for second-person and plural subjects would typically be conveyed with the regular ich wuchs or wir wuchsen, entsprechend the context.

Wuchsen appears mainly in narrative past, historical descriptions, and literary styles where the preterite is preferred. It can describe growth in physical size, population, economy, or other quantities over a past period. For learners, recognizing that wuchsen is the plural past form helps distinguish it from the singular past wuchs and from the participle gewachsen used with present perfect constructions.