German Grammar/Verbs/Past Tenses/Perfect Tense
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The Perfect Tense or das Perfekt of verbs is used to talk about things in the past which have already happened. It is sometimes referred to as "Present Perfect Tense". This can cause confusion. While the formation is similiar, the meaning and usage differs.
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[edit] Formation
As in English, the perfect tense consists of two parts. An auxiliary (Hilfsverb) and a past participle (Partizip Perfekt). Compare the examples given below with their English translations. =
| Er | hat | gelacht. |
| He | has | laughed. |
| Sie | ist | gekommen |
| She | has | come. |
| Die Kinder | haben | gegessen. |
| The children | have | eaten. |
[edit] Past participle for regular verbs
The general rule is simple:
| verb | prefix | + 3rd-person sing. | participle(er/sie/es) |
|---|---|---|---|
| lachen (laugh) | ge | + (er/sie/es) lacht | gelacht |
| kaufen (buy) | ge | + (er/sie/es) kauft | gekauft |
| mähen (mow) | ge | + (er/sie/es) mäht | gemäht |
There are some groups of regular verbs that slightly differ from that pattern.
Some verbs drop the prefix ge-. Like the other regular verbs they end in -t. These are:
1. Verbs with unseparabale prefixes (be-, ent-, er-, empf-, ge-, ver-, miss-, zer-)
Examples:
| verb | past participle |
|---|---|
| besuchen (visit) | besucht |
| entfernen (remove) | entfernt |
| erreichen (achive) | erreicht |
| gehören (belong) | gehört |
| verstecken (hide) | versteckt |
| missverstehen (misunderstand) | missverstanden |
2. Verbs ending in -ieren
Examples:
| verb | past participle |
|---|---|
| kopieren (copy) | kopiert |
| polieren (polish) | poliert |
3. Another group is formed by verbs with separable prefixes
With separable verbs, the prefix ge is placed between the prefix and the rest of the verb.
Examples:
| verb | sep. pref.+ ge + 3rd-person sg. | = past participle |
|---|---|---|
| aufmachen (open) | auf + ge + macht | = aufgemacht |
| abstellen (put down) | ab + ge + stellt | = abgestellt |
| aufwachen (wake up) | auf + ge + wachen | = abgewacht |
Separable and inseparable verbs are distinguished by the stressed syllable:
| verb | past participle |
|---|---|
| über'setzen (to translate) | über'setzt |
| 'übersetzen (to ferry across) | 'übergesetzt |
Er hat das Buch ins Chinesische übersetzt. Der Fährmann hat den Passagier übergesetzt (über den Fluss gesetzt).
[edit] Past Participle for Irregular Verbs
Irregular verbs always end in -en. The vowel can be different from the one in present tense. Look at some examples:
| infinitive | 3rd-person sg. | past participle |
|---|---|---|
| gehen (go) | geht | gegangen |
| essen (eat) | isst | gegessen |
| schreiben (write) | schreibt | geschrieben |
| trinken (drink) | trinkt | getrunken |
| schlafen (sleep) | schläft | geschlafen |
| nehmen (take) | nimmt | genommen |
You have to learn these forms by heart. How you can obtain the necessary information and how you should learn them is described in section tips for learning below.
Note that irregular verbs can be combined with the same prefixes as described above. The same rules regarding the prefix ge- apply. Therefore the forms for schreiben, verschreiben and aufschreiben are geschrieben, verschrieben and aufgeschrieben respectively.
[edit] Which verbs are irregular
A lot of verbs that are irregular in English are irregular in German, too. Unfortunately, this is not always true. It is most likely when the German and the English verb are related (i.e look similar).
Examples:
see: irregular sehen: irregular buy: irregular kaufen: regular ;-) become: irregular bekommen: irregular ;-)
Regular verbs are much more frequent than irregular ones, but a lot of the irregular verbs are used very frequently, for instance haben, sein, gehen, kommen etc.
When in doubt whether a verb is irregular or not, it is best to look it up in a dictionary (See below).
[edit] haben or sein as auxiliaries
Whether a verb is irregular or not does not influence the choice of auxilary.
Most verbs take haben as auxiliary.
A) Verbs which take an accusative object (transitive verbs)
B) Reflexive verbs always take haben as auxiliary.
Examples A:
trinken: Er hat ein Bier getrunken. lesen: Sie hat ein Buch gelesen kochen Sie haben gestern Spaghetti gekocht.
Examples B
sich freuen Ich habe mich gefreut sich kämmen Er hat sich gekämmt sich ärgern Wir haben uns schon lange nicht mehr so geärgert.
The auxiliary sein is taken by verbs that describe
- C) the relocation from one place to an other or
- D) the change of a state
- and with
- E) sein (be) and bleiben (stay)
Note: none of the verbs from groups C-E is combined with an accusative object.
Examples C: relocation verbs
verb aux. irregular sentence with perfect tense kommen (come) sein yes Ich bin gekommen. reisen (travel) sein no Wir sind schon dreimal nach China gereist. fahren (drive) sein yes Ich bin mit dem Auto nach Kalifornien gefahren. begegnen (meet) sein no Er ist ihm gestern begegnet. gehen (go) sein yes Du bist gegangen. starten (take off) sein yes Das Flugzeug ist gestartet.
In southern German (mostly Bavarian) use, also stehen, sitzen und schwimmen are treated like a (non-)movement:
Ich bin gestanden - gesessen - geschwommen. High German is: Ich habe gestanden - gesessen - geschowmmen. Aber: Ich habe den See durchschwommen.
Examples D: change of state verbs
verb aux. irr. sentence with perfect tense aufstehen (get up) sein yes Ich bin heute früh aufgestanden. einschlafen (fall asleep) sein yes Die Kinder sind endlich eingeschlafen. verblühen (wither) sein no Die Blumen sind schon verblüht
Examples E: sein and bleiben
Er ist nicht lange geblieben. He didn't stay long. Er ist immer nett gewesen. He has always been nice.
Exeptions to the rules Some of the verbs from group A can be used with an object in accusative case. In this case, they take haben as auxiliary.
Compare:
Ich bin nach Kalifornien gefahren. I drove to California. Ich bin mit dem Auto nach Kalifornien gefahren. I drove to California by car (literally: with the car) Ich habe das Auto (Akk.) nach Kalifornien gefahren. I drove the car to California.
The same applies to fliegen (fly), starten and reiten (ride a horse). =)
[edit] sentence structure
The perfect tense consists of two verb forms: an auxiliary and a past participle. Together they form the so called predicate. The predicate consists of all verb parts in one clause.
The sentence structure in perfect behaves as with every two parts predicate (modals plus infinitive, seperable verbs etc.)
[edit] Main Clauses
In a main clause (Hauptsatz), the conjugated verb (the auxiliary in this case) is in second position, the past participle stands at the end of the clause.
First Position (I) (II) 1) Sein Vater hat gestern ein fantastisches Essen gekocht. 2) Gestern hat sein Vater ein fantastisches Essen gekocht. Both: Yesterday, his father cooked a fantastic meal. 3) Ein fantastisches Essen hat sein Vater gestern gekocht.* It was a fantastic meal that his father cooked yesterday.
* The third example is correct, although not very frequent. You might use it if you want to stress what exactly his father has prepared or if you have to repeat the sentence because your partner has not understood this particular part of it.
Second position does not equal second word, as you can see above. However, there is only one group of words allowed before the conjugated verb (the auxiliary in this case). Such groups of words are called "phrases". While you can put very long phrases in front of the conjugated verb, you mustn't use two. Therefore the sentence "Gestern sein Vater hat ein fantastisches Essen gekocht" is wrong.
[edit] subordinated clauses - Nebensätze
Subordinated clauses begin with a subordinating conjunction. Well known conjunctions of this kind are
weil dass wenn.
*In spoken language weil is often used like und or aber, which means that it is followed by a main clause. However, after weil, speakers often pause for a little while. There is no pause after either und or aber.
Weil + main clause is not allowed in written language. Therefore you may say: Ich gehe, weil - (little pause) - ich bin müde. But you wouldn't use it in a letter. At least not yet.
The correct conjunction for a main clause is denn, which is rarely used in spoken language.
In subordinated clauses the conjugated verb, i.e the auxiliary, stands at the very end of the sentence. The past participle stands directly in front of it. For Example:
conj. aux. participle aux.
Ich weiss, dass du das gemacht hast.
Ich glaube dir, weil du bisher noch nie gelogen hast.
Ich glaube dir, denn du hast bisher noch nie gelogen.
Ich gehe, wenn du gegangen bist.
[edit] Usage
Unlike in English the difference in meaning between Perfekt and Präteritum is rather small. The main difference between those two formes lies in usage. Perfekt ist mostly used in spoken language, while Präteritum is mostly reserved for written texts. However, the modals, the verbs haben and sein and the expression es gibt are almost exclusively used in Präteritum - even when speaking. One reason might be the frequency of those verbs, the other reason is most likely the very complex perfect forms for modals.
(This is in southern German use; in northern German, you'll hear the preterite also in spoken language.)
On the other hand, the perfect tense is used in writing too. The more oral the text is, the more perfect tense you will find (for example in personal letters etc.). If an action has happened very recently, it tends to be in perfect tense too.
Look at the following conversation and concentrate on the distribution of Präteritum and Perfekt.
(1) Anna: Hallo Peter. Wo warst du denn? Ich habe dich schon lange nicht mehr gesehen.
(2) Peter: Hallo Anna. Ich war die letzten zwei Wochen im Urlaub.
(3) Anna: So? Wo warst du denn genau?
(4) Peter: Auf der Insel Elba, in einem fantastischen Hotel. Es gab jeden Abend ein Büffet und man konnte essen, so viel man wollte!
(5) Anna (lacht): Ich glaube dir sofort, dass dir das gefallen hat. Du hast aber nicht nur gegessen, oder? Was hast du denn den ganzen Tag gemacht?
(6) Peter (lacht auch): Nein, natürlich nicht. Ich bin viel geschwommen, ich habe mir die Insel angeguckt und am Abend bin ich immer zum Tanzen in eine Disco gegangen.
(7) Anna: Aha... Und? Hast du jemanden kennen gelernt?
(8) Peter (grinst): Kein Kommentar.
Vocablary to help you understand the text:
der Urlaub, -e vacation genau exactly, precisely die Insel, -n island das Büffet, -s buffet gefallen like angucken to look at (colloquial) kennen lernen get to know grinsen grin
Used forms to talk about past events
Präteritum Perfekt
du warst (1/3) habe gesehen (1)
ich war (2) es hat gefallen (5)
es gab (4) du hast gegessen (5)
konnte (4) du hast gemacht (5)
wollte (4) ich bin geschwommen (6)
ich habe angeguckt (6)
ich bin gegangen (6)
du hast kennen gelernt
[edit] How to find the forms in a dictionary
Unless you have a special dictionary for learners not all the forms will be spelled out. Regular forms are often ommitted. The same goes for the auxiliary haben. If no forms are indicated, you may assume that the verb is regular and has the verb haben as an auxiliary. However, if you find the abbreviation itr or i. (for intransitive) behind the verb, the auxiliary is often sein. Intransitve verbs don't have an accusative object and these are often used with sein, while transitive verbs (tr. or t.) are always conjugated with haben.
Sometimes not even the forms of irregular verbs are given in the lexicon entry. Irregular verbs are often indicated by irr. for irregular or a similar abbreviation. In that case, look for a list of irregular verb forms in the index of your dictionary.
To find the past participle of seperable verbs you often have to cut the prefix and look for the base form of the verb. If you look for aufstehen (get up), you probably find your answer in the entry of stehen. Remember: The prefix ge goes in between the prefix of the separable verb and the verb itself: auf + ge + standen.
When working online, you might consider to use Canoo. Enter an arbitrary form of the word you are interested in into the mask. Hit enter. On the results page, choose the link Flexion behind the appropriate entry (or inflection in the english version). You will get a table of all possible verb forms.
[edit] Tips for learning
Irregular forms are just that - irregular. Therefore you have to learn them by heart. By learning four forms, you can construct every verbform for a given verb.
The forms you should know are:
Infinitiv Präsens Präteritum Hilfsverb + Partizip Perfekt infinitiv 3rd person preterite auxiliary + past participle gehen geht ging ist + gegangen nehmen nimmt nahm hat + genommen fahren fährt fuhr ist + gefahren lesen liest las hat + gelesen essen isst aß hat + gegessen kommen kommt kam ist + gekommen bleiben bleibt blieb ist + geblieben sein ist war ist + gewesen anfangen fängt ... an fing ... an hat + angefangen ...
All forms - besides the infinitiv of course - should be in 3rd-person singular.
A good way to learn those forms is to put them on small cards. On one side you write the infinitive and probably a sentence to illustrate the usage of the verb. On the backside you put the rest of the forms and - if needed - a translation of the verb. When learning, you look at the infinitve and try to remember the forms and the meaning. You can easily verify your hypothesis by flipping the card.
If you encounter a verb you want to learn, look it up in a dictionary. If it is irregular, learn the verb together with its defining forms. Like that, you spare yourself a lot of trouble later on. Not a book title page. Please remove {{alphabetical}} from this page.
