bereutet

Bereutet is a German verb form that functions as the second-person plural simple past (Präteritum) of the verb bereuen, meaning to regret. In this form, the verb expresses that multiple people regretted something in a past narrative.

Linguistic notes about bereuten and related forms help place bereutet in context. The base stem bereut- combines with the standard weak-verb ending -et in the Präteritum for the ihr (you plural) subject, yielding ihr bereutet. Other Präteritum forms of bereuen include ich bereute, du bereutetest, er bereute, wir bereuten, sie bereuten. The present tense is bereut, and the past participle is bereut. In modern everyday German, the Präteritum form ihr bereutet is relatively rare in speech and is more commonly encountered in written narration or historical texts; speakers often prefer the present perfect ihr habt bereut to express a past regret.

Usage and convention. Bereutet appears primarily in formal, literary, or historical contexts. It can be mistaken for a noun if capitalized at the start of a sentence, but its function as a verb form is distinct from any standalone lexical item. The meaning remains the same as other past-tense forms of bereuen: to have regretted something.

See also. Bereuen, the verb meaning to regret; German conjugation patterns, particularly for Präteritum forms of weak verbs; and discussions of German past tenses and their usage in contemporary versus literary registers.