führten

Führen is a German verb meaning to lead, guide, direct, or to operate. The form führten is the Präteritum (simple past) of führen, used mainly in written narration to describe past actions. The standard Präteritum conjugation is: ich führte, du führtest, er führte, wir führten, ihr führtet, sie führten. The sense covers leading people or groups, guiding a tour or a project, and operating machinery or processes. For example, “Sie führten das Team zum Erfolg” describes past leadership, while “Sie führten den Wagen” can mean they operated the vehicle.

Usage and senses: führen appears with a range of objects, from people (Gruppen, Teams) to tasks (Diskussion, Projekt) or devices (Maschine). In narrative prose, führen is common for describing actions in the past; in everyday speech, the Perfekt with haben plus führen is often found (Sie haben geführt).

Etymology and related forms: the verb is of Germanic origin and has cognates in other West Germanic languages, such as Dutch voeren. Related terms include the noun Führung (leadership, guided tour) and the verb forms for related notions, such as anführen (to quote or to lead in a sequence) and durchführen (to carry out). The past participle is geführt, used with haben in perfect tenses (Sie haben geführt). The present participle führend describes someone who is leading.

Notes: the word Führer exists as a historical term with strong associations in German and is typically avoided in favor of alternatives like Leiter or Anführer in contemporary contexts.

See also: Führung, Führungspersönlichkeit, Führer, Anführen, Durchführen.