leuchteten

Leuchteten is the simple past tense (Präteritum) form of the German verb leuchten, which means to shine or glow. The form leuchteten is used with plural subjects in the past, for example to describe events or states in a narrative. Common modern usage tends to favor the present perfect tense (hat geleuchtet) in everyday speech, while Präteritum appears more in written narrative or formal contexts.

For example: Die Sterne leuchteten hell am Himmel. Die Straßenlaternen leuchteten die Nacht hindurch. In these sentences, the subject is plural (the stars, the street lamps), and leuchteten conveys that they shone in the past. The equivalent singular forms would be leuchtete (ich, er/sie/es) or leuchteten (wir, sie) with appropriate subject agreement.

Usage notes and related forms: Leuchten as a verb belongs to the Germanic family of languages and shares cognates with related verbs in other West Germanic languages. The noun Leuchte (plural Leuchten) means a light or lamp, and is distinct from the verb form leuchten. In literary or historical texts, leuchteten may be encountered, but in contemporary spoken German it is more common to use hat geleuchtet for past events.

Overall, leuchteten functions as a past-tense marker for plural subjects of the verb leuchten, denoting that something shone or emitted light in the past. It is one of several past-tense forms of leuchten in German grammar.