Verb

fehlen

Translation

were missing, lacked, were absent

Uns fehlten die Worte.

We were at a loss for words.

Zwei Schüler fehlten gestern.

Two students were absent yesterday.

Die Schlüssel fehlten auf dem Tisch.

The keys were missing from the table.

((sb.dat)) ((sth.nom)) were missing (to sb.) They were missing the necessary information.

mangelten (lacked); Antonyms: waren vorhanden (were available/present)

This is the simple past tense (Präteritum) of 'fehlen'. The '-ten' suffix indicates the past tense for plural subjects (we, they).

The '-ten' ending is a clear signal for the simple past tense with plural subjects like 'wir' (we) or 'sie' (they).