schauten

Schauen is a common German verb meaning to look or to watch. The form schauten is the simple past (Präteritum) used with plural subjects in narrative contexts. For example, wir schauten den Film, and sie schauten aus dem Fenster. In everyday speech the perfect (Perfekt) with haben is more common for past events.

Conjugation and forms: In Präteritum the full set is: ich schaute, du schautest, er/sie/es schaute, wir schauten, ihr schautet, sie/Sie schauten. The past participle is geschaut, and the corresponding Perfekt forms are ich habe geschaut, du hast geschaut, er/sie/es hat geschaut, wir haben geschaut, ihr habt geschaut, sie/Sie haben geschaut. The verb can also appear in compound forms such as anschauen (to look at, to examine), where the root sense is extended with a prefix.

Etymology and relatives: Schauen is of Germanic origin and has cognates in other West Germanic languages. It shares semantic field with related verbs used to indicate looking, watching, or examining. In modern German, schauen remains versatile, appearing in contexts from casual observation to formal narration.

Usage notes: Schauen is commonly used with direct objects or with prepositional phrases, often in expressions like aus dem Fenster schauen (to look out of the window) or etwas anschauen (to look at or to watch something). In narrative writing, schauten is used for past-tense description with plural subjects, while the Perfekt with geschaut is typical in spoken language. Example sentences: Wir schauten den Film gestern Abend. Er schaute neugierig in die Ferne. Wir haben den Film geschaut.