stimmten

Stimmten is the simple past tense (Präteritum) form of the German verb stimmen. The verb stimmen has several related meanings, including to agree with something or someone, to vote on a proposal, and to be in tune or correct. The form stimmten is used with plural subjects in the past tense, for example: Wir stimmten dem Vorschlag zu; Sie stimmten gegen den Antrag.

In the present tense the verb is stimmt, zu, stimmt, stimmen, stimmt, stimmen. The corresponding past singular forms are ich stimmte, du stimmtest, er stimmte, and the plural past forms are wir stimmten, ihr stimmtet, sie stimmten. When used in contexts meaning “to be in agreement” or “to match,” past tense forms such as stimmten appear in sentences like Die Zahlen stimmten oder Die Ergebnisse stimmten überein.

Stimmten also occurs in compounds with separable prefixes, such as abstimmen (to coordinate, to vote on something). In past tense you can say Wir stimmten den Plan ab; alternatively, Wir haben den Plan abgestimmt uses the perfect tense. This shows how stimmten functions as the base for several related forms and meanings.

Etymologically, stimmen is linked to ideas of harmony, agreement, and tuning, extending from musical tuning to general correctness and synchronization. The noun Stimme means voice or vote, and Stimmen can refer to votes in elections or polls.

See also: Stimme, Stimmen (votes), abstimmen, Stimmrecht, Stimmabgabe.