How to learn Present Perfect Tense in German

Present Perfect Tense in German

German Perfect Tense with a List of 100+ Common Past Participles

German Perfect Tense. As a beginner German student, you all must have dreamed of traveling to Germany. Apart from present tense, German perfect tense is something you will have to master, if you want to have a good conversation with a native speaker. Knowing how to use the present perfect tense will surely make you a better speaker.

German Perfect Tense

The present perfect tense is used in spoken language instead of simple past tense. It is used to talk about an event that happened in the past. We do tend to talk about our past many times. Now you know, why it is so important to learn the German perfect tense!

The German perfect tense is built with the help of haben / sein in the present tense and past participle (Partizip II) of another verb. The helping verb (Haben / Sein) is conjugated according to the subject of the sentence and takes the second position. The past participle of the other verb is placed at the end of the sentence.

Usually, German perfect tense is formed with “haben“. Most of the verbs that take a direct object use haben. Verbs that do not indicate change of state or location also use haben.

When to use “Sein”

Verbs that express movement and change of state use sein. What exactly does this mean? Movement means when the subject physically changes the locations. For example, gehen, fahren, rennen, fliegen, kommen, reisen, laufen etc.

Change of state means when the subject’s condition changes from ‘State A’ to ‘State B’. This change of condition does not involve change of place. For example, einschlafen, aufwachen, wachsen, sterben, verwelken, werden etc.

Go through our lesson on verbs if you don’t remember how to conjugate haben and sein in present tense.

Bleiben (to stay) and Sein (to be) also use sein, even though they do not express movement or change of state.

Past Participles Construction

When it comes to learning a new grammar concept in German language, there are always a few exceptions. And German perfect tense is no different! The construction of past participles varies based on the types of verbs.

Weak Verbs

The past participles of weak (regular) verbs are formed by adding ‘ge‘ at the beginning and ‘t’ at the end of the verb stem. Let’s consider the verb lernen (to learn). Its past participle will be:

ge + lern + t = gelernt

If the verb stem ends in d / t / m, the past participle is formed by adding ‘ge‘ at the beginning and an ‘et‘ at the end. Let’s consider the verb warten (to wait). Its past participle will be:

ge + wart + et = gewartet

Past participles of the verbs ending in ‘ieren’ are formed without ‘ge’. However, we do add ‘t’ at the end of the verb stem. Let’s consider the verb studieren (to study). Its past participle will be:

studier + t = studiert

List of some weak verbs for you to memorize:-

English Verb	German Verb	Partizip II
to work	arbeiten	gearbeitet
to breathe	atmen	geatmet
to form	bilden	gebildet
to need	brauchen	gebraucht
to follow	folgen	gefolgt
to ask	fragen	gefragt
to feel	fühlen	gefühlt
to believe	glauben	geglaubt
to interest	interessieren	interessiert
to buy	kaufen	gekauft
to cook	kochen	gekocht
to live	leben	gelebt
to lay	legen	gelegt
to make / do	machen	gemacht
to note down	notieren	notiert
to pack	packen	gepackt
to talk	reden	geredet
to say	sagen	gesagt
to play	spielen	gespielt
to put / place	stellen	gestellt
to search	suchen	gesucht
to dance	tanzen	getanzt
to call	telefonieren	telefoniert
to reside / live	wohnen	gewohnt
to show	zeigen	gezeigt
to be supposed to	sollen	gesollt
to want	wollen	gewollt

Strong Verbs

The past participles of strong (irregular) verbs are a bit complex. The ‘-en’ of the infinitive form remains as it is. There is no ‘-t’ at the end of the verb stem. We do add ‘-ge’ at the beginning. But, here’s the complex part. The verb stem changes most of the times.

For example, the past participle of gehen (to go) is gegangen.

Sometimes, the vowels in the verb stem get rearranged. For example, the past participle of bleiben (to stay) is geblieben. Here, ‘ei’ changes to ‘ie’.

List of some strong verbs for you to memorize:-

English Verb	German Verb	Partizip II
to offer	bieten	geboten
to bite	beißen	gebissen
to bind	binden	gebunden
to request	bitten	gebeten
to roast / fry	braten	gebraten
to break	brechen	gebrochen
to eat	essen	gegessen
to drive	fahren	gefahren
to fall	fallen	gefallen
to catch	fangen	gefangen
to find	finden	gefunden
to fly	fliegen	geflogen
to give	geben	gegeben
to pour	gießen	gegossen
to grasp / grab	greifen	gegriffen
to stop	halten	gehalten
to lift	heben	gehoben
to help	helfen	geholfen
to sound	klingen	geklungen
to come	kommen	gekommen
to run	laufen	gelaufen
to read	lesen	gelesen
to lend	leihen	geliehen
to lie	liegen	gelegen
to take	nehmen	genommen
to ride	reiten	geritten
to smell	riechen	gerochen
to close	schließen	geschlossen
to cut	schneiden	geschnitten
to write	schreiben	[responsivevoice voice="Deutsch Female" rate="0.8" buttontext="►"]geschrieben
to swim	schwimmen	geschwommen
to see	sehen	[responsivevoice voice="Deutsch Female" rate="0.8" buttontext="►"]gesehen
to be	sein	gewesen
to sing	singen	gesungen
to sink	sinken	gesunken
to sit	sitzen	gesessen
to speak	sprechen	gesprochen
to jump	springen	gesprungen
to stand	stehen	gestanden
to climb	steigen	gestiegen
to die	sterben	gestorben
to argue	streiten	gestritten
to wear	tragen	getragen
to meet	treffen	getroffen
to drink	trinken	getrunken
to wash	waschen	gewaschen
to become	werden	geworden
to throw	werfen	geworfen
to pull	ziehen	gezogen
to force	zwingen	[responsivevoice voice="Deutsch Female" rate="0.8" buttontext="►"]gezwungen

Mixed Verbs

The past participles of mixed verbs are a combination of weak and strong verbs. A ‘-t’ is added at the end of the verb stem just like weak verbs. And like strong verbs, the verb stem changes.

For example, the past participle of wissen (to know) is gewusst.

List of some mixed verbs for you to memorize:-

English Verb	German Verb	Partizip II
to burn	brennen	[responsivevoice voice="Deutsch Female" rate="0.8" buttontext="►"]gebrannt
to bring	bringen	gebracht
to think	denken	gedacht
to know	kennen	gekannt
to name / mention	nennen	genannt
to run	rennen	gerannt
to send	senden	gesandt
to turn	wenden	gewandt
to be allowed to	dürfen	gedurft
to be able to	können	gekonnt
to like	mögen	gemocht
to have to	müssen	gemusst

There are two Partizip II forms of senden and wenden. Senden – gesandt / gesendet. Wenden – gewandt / gewendet

Separable Verbs

As the name suggests, the prefixes of these verbs are separable. The past participle of separable verbs is formed by adding ‘-ge’ after the prefix. The rules of weak, strong and mixed verbs apply to these verbs as well. Let’s consider the verb zumachen (to close / shut).

zu + ge + mach + t = zugemacht (We add ‘-ge‘ between the prefix and verb stem.)

List of some separable verbs for you to memorize:-

English Verb	German Verb	Partizip II
to offer	anbieten	angeboten
to arrive	ankommen	angekommen
to begin	anfangen	angefangen
to call	anrufen	angerufen
to adapt	anpassen	angepasst
to look	aussehen	ausgesehen
to go out	ausgehen	ausgegangen
to pronounce	aussprechen	ausgesprochen
to try out	ausprobieren	ausprobiert
to get up	aufstehen	aufgestanden
to stop / end	aufhören	aufgehört
to wake up	aufwachen	aufgewacht
to open	aufmachen	aufgemacht
to burn down	abbrennen	abgebrannt
to depart	abfahren	abgefahren
to pick up	abholen	abgeholt
to cancel	absagen	abgesagt
to contribute	beitragen	beigetragen
to shop	einkaufen	[responsivevoice voice="Deutsch Female" rate="0.8" buttontext="►"]eingekauft
to invite	einladen	[responsivevoice voice="Deutsch Female" rate="0.8" buttontext="►"]eingeladen
to tumble	hinfallen	hingefallen
to bring along	mitbringen	mitgebracht
to take along	mitnehmen	mitgenommen
to ponder	nachdenken	nachgedacht
to prepare	vorbereiten	vorbereitet
to suggest	vorschlagen	vorgeschlagen
to introduce	vorstellen	vorgestellt
to cover / tuck	zudecken	zugedeckt
to agree	zustimmen	zugestimmt

Inseparable Verbs

As the name suggests, the prefixes of these verbs are inseparable. The past participle of inseparable verbs is formed without ‘-ge’. The rules of weak, strong and mixed verbs apply to these verbs too. Let’s consider the verb besuchen (to visit).

besuch + t = besucht (We do not add ‘-ge‘ here.)

List of some inseparable verbs for you to memorize:-

English Verb	German Verb	Partizip II
to receive	bekommen	bekommen
to answer / reply	beantworten	beantwortet
to start	beginnen	begonnen
to use	benutzen	benutzt
to pay	bezahlen	bezahlt
to recommend	empfehlen	empfohlen
to feel	empfinden	empfunden
to dismiss / fire	entlassen	entlassen
to relax	entspannen	entspannt
to decide	entscheiden	entschieden
to invent	erfinden	erfunden
to recognize / identify	erkennen	erkannt
to allow / permit	erlauben	erlaubt
to experience	erleben	erlebt
to expect	erwarten	erwartet
to belong to	gehören	gehört
to appeal to / like	gefallen	gefallen
to win	gewinnen	gewonnen
to disobey	missachten	[responsivevoice voice="Deutsch Female" rate="0.8" buttontext="►"]missachtet
to suspect	misstrauen	[responsivevoice voice="Deutsch Female" rate="0.8" buttontext="►"]misstraut
to connect	verbinden	verbunden
to forget	vergessen	vergessen
to compare	vergleichen	verglichen
to sell	verkaufen	verkauft
to lose	verlieren	verloren
to understand	verstehen	verstanden
to shatter / snap	zerbrechen	zerbrochen
to destroy	zerstören	zerstört

Here are a few German perfect tense example sentences:-

Ich habe den deutschen Satz verstanden. (I understood the German sentence.)
Gestern ist er nach London geflogen. (Yesterday he flew to London.)
Wir haben am Morgen unsere Hausaufgaben gemacht. (We did our homework in the morning.)

Thank you for keep reading. learn more about German grammar here.