This is the 15866th most frequent German word.
überraschten
"Überraschten" means "surprised" in English.
Here, "überraschten" is used as the third-person plural past tense of "überraschen", signifying an action performed by the children to surprise their parents.
Die Kinder überraschten ihre Eltern mit einem selbstgemachten Frühstück.
The children surprised their parents with a homemade breakfast.
In this context, "überraschte" is used as the first-person singular past tense of the verb "überraschen", indicating that the speaker surprised their friends.
Ich überraschte meine Freunde mit einer Party.
I surprised my friends with a party.
For this sentence, "überraschten" is employed in the first-person plural past tense, indicating the group surprised their teacher.