sagte

Sagte is the simple past tense form (Präteritum) of the German verb sagen, meaning to say or to tell. It is used to report speech or statements in a narrative past and appears in the third-person singular as er sagte. Other persons in the past tense form as ich sagte, du sagtest, er sagte, wir sagten, ihr sagtet, sie sagten. As a finite verb, sagte is common in writing and in storytelling, though in everyday spoken German the perfect tense (hat gesagt) is often preferred for past actions.

Sagen is a regular (weak) verb. Its Präteritum forms follow the standard -te endings: sagte, sagtest, sagte, sagten, sagtet, sagten. The past participle is gesagt, used with auxiliary haben to form the perfect: er hat gesagt. The present tense forms include ich sage, du sagst, er sagt, wir sagen, ihr sagt, sie sagen.

Usage examples illustrate the range of dadurch: In indirect speech, man might say, Er sagte, er komme später. In direct speech: «Ich komme später», sagte er. Sagen frequently appears in narratives to convey what characters uttered, thought, or implied, and it also features in reported speech with Konjunktiv I or II in more formal contexts.

Etymology and cognates: sagen originates from the Germanic family of languages, with cognates in Dutch zeggen and the English verb say. The form sagte represents a standard preterite conjugation of a core verb meaning to utter or to declare, and remains a basic building block in German grammar for describing past speech.