fürchtete

Fürchtete is the simple past tense (Präteritum) form of the German verb fürchten, which means to fear or to be afraid of someone or something. In usage, it describes fear that occurred in the past. The form fürchtete is the same for ich (I) and er/sie/es (he/she/it) in Präteritum; the subject is usually clear from context. The present tense is forchten not; the present forms are ich fürchte, du fürchtest, er fürchtet, wir fürchten, ihr fürchtet, sie fürchten.

Common constructions include using reflexive pronouns or prepositions to indicate what is feared. For example: Ich fürchtete mich vor dem Sturm (I was afraid of the storm). The phrase can also introduce a subordinate clause: Ich fürchtete, dass ich zu spät kommen würde (I feared that I would be late). In contemporary speech, the present tense form Ich fürchte... is used to express a current fear or to hedge a statement, as in Ich fürchte, wir kommen zu spät (I fear that we’ll be late).

Etymology and related terms: The verb fürchten derives from the noun Furcht (fear) and belongs to the same Germanic word family describing fear. It is closely related to other German verbs and nouns expressing fear or apprehension in German, and its past-tense form for the same subject is fürchtete.

See also: fürchten (infinitive), Furcht (noun), Angst, vor + Dativ constructions.