wackelten

Wackelten is the simple past (Präteritum) form of the German verb wackeln, meaning to wobble or shake. It is used with wir (we) and with sie (they) in the past tense, and, when capitalized as Sie, also with the formal you. The standard Präteritum conjugation is: ich wackelte; du wackeltest; er/sie/es wackelte; wir wackelten; ihr wackeltet; sie wackelten; Sie wackelten.

Usage in modern German is more common in written language and in formal narration. In everyday speech, speakers typically use the perfect tense: wir haben gewackelt, ihr habt gewackelt, sie haben gewackelt. Wackelten describes past wobbling of objects or phenomena (for example, a building, a bridge, or a vehicle) or a figurative wobbling of a plan or belief in narrative contexts. Example sentences: Der Turm wackelte im Sturm. Die Brücke wackelte, doch sie blieb stehen.

Origin and related terms: Wackeln is a native German verb with the core sense of physical or figurative shaking. Related terms include wackelig (wobbly) and Wackelkontakt (a loose electrical contact), which shares the same root idea of instability and movement.

See also: wackeln, wackelig, Wackelkontakt.