From The Student Room

TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > German > Perfect tense

---

Perfect tense

The perfect tense of the verb is generally translated as either "I played", "I have played" or "I did play". Note that there is no way of distinguishing between these ideas in German; they are all formed in the same way. To form this form of the verb, take the relevant form of the present tense of haben or sein and the past participle (see below). Haben is used with most verbs; sein is used with verbs of motion (gehen, fahren, laufen), verbs of state change (sterben, wachsen, werden), and the two verbs sein (itself!) and bleiben.

Haben and sein

Haben

ich	habe	gespielt
du	hast
er	hat
wir	haben
ihr	habt
sie	haben

Sein

ich	bin	gefahren
du	bist
er	ist
wir	sind
ihr	seid
sie	sind

Notes:

• The past participle is always sent as far towards the end of the clause as possible (see word order).
• Schwimmen can optionally take either haben or sein.

Past participle

To form the past participle in regular verbs, add ge- and -t to the stem of the verb. Example: the past participle of "lernen" is "gelernt". To form the past participle in irregular verbs, add ge- and -en to the stem, having applied the vowel change (see principal parts). Example: the past participle of "singen" is "gesungen".

The past participle can also be used as an adjective: "ich sah einen gefallenen Baum", "I saw a fallen tree".