töteten

Töteten is the past tense plural form of the German verb töten, which translates to "to kill" in English. It is used when referring to multiple subjects performing the action of killing. For example, in a sentence like "Die Soldaten töteten die Feinde" (The soldiers killed the enemies), "töteten" indicates that more than one soldier was involved in the act. The verb töten itself is a strong verb in German and conjugates regularly in its past tense forms. The past tense, or Präteritum, is commonly used in narrative writing and in spoken German to describe past events. The perfect tense, or Perfekt, is also frequently employed in spoken German, utilizing the auxiliary verb haben or sein with the past participle getötet. Therefore, "töteten" specifically refers to the completed action of killing performed by a plural subject in the simple past.