Language/German/Grammar/Past-Tense-—-Part-1-—-Perfect-Tense
Past Tense - Part 1 | Past Tense - Part 2 |
How to form the perfect (regular verbs)[edit | edit source]
To form the perfect tense, you use the auxiliary 'haben' and the past participle. The past participle is usually formed by adding the prefix "ge" and the ending "t" to the verb stem.
Example: kaufen (to buy)
Present Tense | Perfect Tense | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Pronoun | Verb | Pronoun | Auxiliary | Participle |
ich | kaufe | ich | habe | gekauft |
du | kaufst | du | hast | gekauft |
er/sie/es | kauft | er/sie/es | hat | gekauft |
wir | kaufen | wir | haben | gekauft |
ihr | kauft | ihr | habt | gekauft |
sie | kaufen | sie | haben | gekauft |
Some verbs form the perfect tense with the auxiliary „sein“. Those are usually verbs of movement.
Example: hüpfen (to jump)
Present Tense | Perfect Tense | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Pronoun | Verb | Pronoun | Auxiliary | Participle |
ich | hüpfe | ich | bin | gehüpft |
du | hüpfst | du | bist | gehüpft |
er/sie/es | hüpft | er/sie/es | ist | gehüpft |
wir | hüpfen | wir | sind | gehüpft |
ihr | hüpft | ihr | seid | gehüpft |
sie | hüpfen | sie | sind | gehüpft |
Specifics[edit | edit source]
It is typical for the German language that we construct words like in a modular system. So quite a few verbs exist not only in their basic form, but also with a prefix that changes their meaning.
Example: kaufen (to buy), abkaufen (to buy sth. from so.), aufkaufen (to buy out), einkaufen (to buy, to shop), verkaufen (to sell), zukaufen (to buy something in addition)
Some of the prefixes are dropped when the verb is the main verb in the main sentence.
Example: einkaufen --> ich kaufe ein.
These verbs form the participle by putting the "ge" between the prefix and the verb stem.
Example: einkaufen --> ich kaufe ein --> ich habe eingekauft.
Other prefixes are strictly attached to the verb stem.
Example: verkaufen --> ich verkaufe.
Those verbs don't add "ge" at all.
Example: verkaufen --> ich verkaufe --> Ich habe verkauft.
Irregular Verbs[edit | edit source]
For verbs, dictionaries always give you the past tense and past participle forms in addition to the infinitive. Some do this for all verbs, some only for the irregular ones.
Example regular verb: hüpfen (jump), hüpfte, gehüft
Example irregular verb: fahren (drive), fuhr, gefahren
With irregular verbs, it's important that you learn these three forms. The participle of irregular verbs usually differs from the regular ones by ending in "en" and/or changes the vowel in the stem.
Examples:
rennen (ran), rannte, gerannt
schwimmen (swim,) schwamm, geschwommen
How to use the perfect tense[edit | edit source]
The perfect is the most used form of the past tense in German. In fact, in the spoken language you only use the perfect tense with the exception of the verbs "haben", "sein", "denken", "finden" and the modal verbs
(dürfen, können, mögen, müssen, sollen, wollen), which are often (but not necessarily) used in simple past. In written language, the perfect tense is dominant in all non-literary texts (e.g. correspondence, diaries, reports).
Videos[edit | edit source]
How to build the German Past Tense - PART 1 - YouTube[edit | edit source]
Learn German | Perfekt | Past tense | Part 1 | German for beginners ...[edit | edit source]
PART 1 | Learn German grammar: das Perfekt | the past tense ...[edit | edit source]
Other Lessons[edit | edit source]
- Give your Opinion
- Simple negative sentences
- How to Use Be
- Negation
- Adjectives
- Present Tense
- Indefinite Articles in German
- Be Polite
- Future Tense
- How to Use be