How to Say "'had'" in German - How To Say Guide

hatte

The English word 'had' is translated into German as hatte.

hatte is the past tense of the verb 'to have' in German. It is used to indicate possession or to describe a previous state of being.

Which one should you use?

hatte is the simple past form, but in spoken German, it is often replaced by the perfect tense hat gehabt to express the same meaning.

The form hatte is used for the first-person singular ('I had') and the third-person singular ('he/she/it had').

German has a specific idiom hatte die Nase voll, meaning 'had the nose full', which is used to say that someone had finally had enough of a situation.
In German, the verb haben can be used to describe feelings or states that English uses 'to be' for, such as ich hatte Hunger, which literally means 'I had hunger' instead of 'I was hungry'.
The verb haben and its past form hatte are cognates of the English word 'have'. They both descend from a Proto-Germanic root meaning 'to grasp' or 'to hold'.

Er hatte eine Idee.
He had an idea.
Sie hatten eine Party.
They had a party.
Der Künstler besaß einen einzigartigen Stil.
The artist had a unique style.
Das Team hatte die Anforderungen erfüllt.
The team had fulfilled the requirements.
Gestern hatte ich viel Spaß.
Yesterday, I had a lot of fun.
Wir hatten eine tolle Zeit.
We had a great time.
Ich hatte das schon gemacht.
I had already done that.
Sie hatte es versucht, aber es funktionierte nicht.
She had tried it, but it didn't work.
Ich hatte das vorgestern getan.
I had done that the day before yesterday.
Sie hatte es bereits getan.
She had already done it.
Ich hatte gestern Glück.
I had luck yesterday.
Ich hatte gestern viel Glück.
I had a lot of luck yesterday.
Wir hatten ein kleines Auto.
We had a small car.
Hattest du eine gute Idee?
Did you have a good idea?

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