merkte

Merkte is a grammatical form found in German and Dutch, derived from the verb merken, meaning to notice or to mark. In German, merkte is the simple past tense (Präteritum) for the first person singular ich merkte and the third person singular er/sie/es merkte of the verb merken. In Dutch, merkte is the past tense (onvoltooid verleden tijd) for singular subjects: ik merkte, jij/je merkte, hij/zij/het merkte; the plural past tense is merkten. The related past participle is gemerkt in both languages.

Etymology: Merk en is a Germanic verb with cognates across Dutch and German, and distant relatives in other Germanic languages. Its roots are linked to the idea of marking, noticing, or sensing, which underlies the sense of “to notice” used today.

Usage notes: In German, merkte is used in narrative or reported past tense when the act of noticing occurred in the past; the present perfect form hat gemerkt is more common in everyday speech. In Dutch, merkte serves the same past-tense function in both written and spoken language, with context determining tense. Examples: German: Ich merkte den Fehler sofort. Dutch: Ik merkte het verschil.

See also: Merken, the infinitive verb; gemerkt, the past participle used in compound tenses. Merkte does not function as a standalone noun in standard German or Dutch and is primarily encountered as a verb form in past-tense constructions.