referierten

Referierten is the simple past (Präteritum) form of the German verb referieren. It is used with plural subjects such as wir, sie, and Sie to indicate that a talk or report was delivered in the past. The corresponding form for the second person plural is ihr referiertet, not referierten, which is why referierten typically appears with wir oder sie/Sie.

Referieren itself means to present a report or to give a talk on a topic, usually in educational or professional settings. When someone delivered a prepared talk, one would say they referierten. The noun associated with this activity is Referat, denoting the talk or the short report that was presented. A speaker who leads such a presentation may be described as a Referent (male) or Referentin (female).

Grammatical details: referieren is a regular verb. Simple past forms include ich referierte, du referiertest, er/sie/es referierte, wir referierten, ihr referiertet, sie/Sie referierten. The past participle is referiert, used with the auxiliary haben to form the perfect tense (ich habe referiert). The present participle is referierend. Infinitive: referieren; imperative forms: referiere (du), referiert (ihr), referieren Sie (Sie).

Usage and examples: In schools and universities, students often referieren on a topic as a short assignment or presentation. For example: Die Gruppe referierte über nachhaltige Energiequellen. In a report or conference context, someone might say: Gestern referierten die Forscher über ihre Ergebnisse. The term is closely linked to Referat and Referent/Referentin, rather than to citieren (to cite) or verweisen (to refer).