studierten

Studierten is the Präteritum (simple past) form of the German verb studieren, meaning to study, typically at a university or in an academic context. It is used to describe past actions in narrative writing. In everyday speech, the perfect tense with haben—ich habe studiert, du hast studiert, er hat studiert—is more common.

Conjugation in Präteritum (examples for all persons): ich studierte, du studiertest, er/sie/es studierte, wir studierten, ihr studiertet, sie studierten. For instance: Wir studierten in München Medizin. The third-person plural form is the same as the first-person plural in this tense, which often appears in historical or formal texts.

Relation to related terms: Das Studium refers to the course of studies or a degree program, while das Studieren can denote the act of studying more generally. The past tense form studierten can therefore describe groups or individuals who completed studies in the past, whereas studierte (without final -n in plural) is the singular past tense form for ich/er/sie/es and is used in narrative contexts.

Etymology: The verb derives from the Germanic verb group connected to learning and application, ultimately tracing back to Latin studēre (“to study; to be eager”) and studium (“zeal, study”). This lineage explains the close relation to terms like Studium and Studierender.

Overall, studierten is a standard past-tense form used mainly in written German to describe completed studying actions, while the more common spoken form for past action is haben studiert.