schwammst

Schwammst is the second-person singular simple past form of the German verb schwimmen. It denotes that you (du) performed the action of swimming at a point in the past. In modern German orthography, this form is written as two separate words: du schwammst. The root of the form is schwamm-, and the ending -st marks the second person singular in the Präteritum: ich schwamm, du schwammst, er schwamm; wir schwammen, ihr schwammt, sie schwammen. The past participle of schwimmen is geschwommen, used with auxiliary verbs to form perfect tenses.

Usage and style notes indicate that schwammst appears in literary, historical, or formal writing and can be found in older texts or certain dialects. In contemporary spoken German, speakers often favor the perfect tense to describe past actions, such as du bist geschwommen or simply du bist geschwommen, rather than the Präteritum form schwammst. Consequently, schwammst tends to occur more in narrative writing, literature, or situations requiring a classic or formal register.

Orthography and terminology clarify that, in standard usage, the single-word form schwammst is not considered correct as a standalone lexeme; the correct two-word form is du schwammst. In linguistic descriptions, schwammst is sometimes referred to as the Präteritum second-person singular of schwimmen rather than as an independent word.

See also: Schwimmen (verb), Präteritum, German grammar, past tenses in German.