vergaß

Vergaß is the simple past tense (Präteritum) of the German verb vergessen, meaning to forget. It is used to describe a forgetting action that occurred in the past, typically in written narration or formal contexts. In everyday spoken German, the Perfekt form hat vergessen is usually preferred.

Conjugation in the Präteritum (simple past) of vergessen:

ich vergaß

du vergaßest

er/sie/es vergaß

wir vergaßen

ihr vergaßt

sie/Sie vergaßen

The form vergaß can be found in various sentences such as: Ich vergaß den Schlüssel zu Hause. Er vergaß, den Alarm auszuschalten.

Notes on usage and spelling:

- Vergaß is the third-person singular past tense form and also the first-person singular past tense form, among others, in its respective subject positions.

- The spelling uses the letter ß after a long vowel in the stem, as in vergaß and vergaßen. In environments where ß is unavailable, it may be written as vergaß or vergaßen in some older or specialized texts, but standard orthography uses ß.

- The imperfect tense contrasts with the perfect tense hat vergessen, which is more common in everyday speech to describe past events.

Etymology:

Vergaß derives from the verb vergessen with the prefix ver- and a stem change in the Präteritum. It is an irregular verb form within the German language’s past tense system.

In summary, vergaß marks a past act of forgetting in the Präteritum and is most commonly encountered in formal or narrative writing, while the present-day spoken language favors hat vergessen for past events.