fügten

Fügen is a German verb meaning to add, join, or attach, and fügen’s past tense form in the Präteritum is fügten. The form fügten is used with plural subjects (wir, sie, or Sie in the plural sense) in narrative past contexts. The corresponding singular past tense form is fügte (ich, er/sie/es). In everyday writing and speech, the Präteritum of fügen is less common than the perfect tense (haben hinzugefügt), but it appears in literature and historical narration.

Usage and meaning

Fügen is used when describing the act of adding or inserting something into a collection, document, sequence, or combination. It often appears in compounds with prefixes such as hinzu-, for example hinzufügte(n) weiter Elemente. Example sentences in the Präteritum include: Wir fügten dem Bericht eine Tabelle hinzu. Sie fügten dem Vertrag eine Klausel hinzu. These illustrate adding elements to a set, list, or agreement in the past.

Relationship to related verbs

Fügen is closely related to the separable-prefix verb hinzufügen, which means “to add,” “to insert,” or “to attach.” In many cases, the act of adding is described with fügen in narrative past, while hinzufügen is used for the combined concept of adding something to something else.

Etymology

The verb fügen originates from Old High German and Middle High German roots for joining or connecting and has cognates in other Germanic languages. It is productive in modern German through compounds such as hinzufügen (to add) and zusammenfügen (to join together).

See also

Fügen (the base verb), hinzufügen, zusammenfügen, Präteritum, German verb conjugation.