The everyday past tense
When Germans tell you what they did yesterday or at the weekend, they use the Perfekt. It has two parts: a form of haben in second position and the Partizip II (past participle) at the very end of the sentence. The participle never changes for person; only haben does.
Ich habe gearbeitet.
I worked. / I have worked.
Wir haben Fußball gespielt.
We played football.
Hast du für die Prüfung gelernt?
Did you study for the exam?
Most verbs use haben. A group of movement verbs uses sein instead (Ich bin gegangen); more on this later.
Building the participle
Regular verbs (schwache Verben) follow one pattern. Take the infinitive, cut off the -en to get the stem, and put ge- in front and -t behind it.
Regular participles
| Infinitive | Partizip II | English |
|---|---|---|
| machen | gemacht | to do, to make |
| spielen | gespielt | to play |
| kaufen | gekauft | to buy |
| hören | gehört | to hear |
| arbeiten | gearbeitet | to work |
| warten | gewartet | to wait |
| regnen | geregnet | to rain |
The last three rows are the only adjustment. Stems ending in -t or -d, or in a consonant plus -n, take -et instead of -t: gearbeitet, geredet, geregnet. Otherwise the ending would be hard to pronounce, just like the extra -e- in du arbeitest.
Ich habe Brot gekauft.
I bought bread.
Habt ihr die Musik gehört?
Did you hear the music?
Wir haben eine Stunde gewartet.
We waited for an hour.
Verbs without ge-
Two groups of regular verbs get no ge-. Their participle is the stem plus -t. These are verbs ending in -ieren and verbs with an unstressed prefix: be-, emp-, ent-, er-, ge-, ver-, zer-.
No ge-
| Infinitive | Partizip II | English |
|---|---|---|
| studieren | studiert | to study (at university) |
| telefonieren | telefoniert | to phone |
| besuchen | besucht | to visit |
| bezahlen | bezahlt | to pay |
| erklären | erklärt | to explain |
Ich habe in Wien studiert.
I studied in Vienna.
Sie hat ihre Oma besucht.
She visited her grandmother.
Hast du schon bezahlt?
Have you paid yet?
Separable verbs
Separable verbs such as einkaufen, aufräumen and abholen have a stressed prefix. In the Perfekt the ge- goes between the prefix and the stem, and the participle is written as one word.
Ich habe schon eingekauft.
I've already done the shopping.
Er hat sein Zimmer aufgeräumt.
He tidied his room.
Wir haben die Kinder abgeholt.
We picked the children up.
