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The Perfekt is one of the most common ways to express the past tense in German, especially in spoken language. It’s formed using a helping verb («haben» or «sein») and the past participle of the main verb. In this chapter, we’ll learn how to form the Perfekt and when to use it.

Formation of the Perfekt

The Perfekt tense is formed using the following structure:

Subject + haben/sein (conjugated in present tense) + (Other words) + Past Participle (at the end)

Choosing the Correct Helping Verb: «haben» or «sein»?

The most challenging part of forming the Perfekt is deciding whether to use «haben» or «sein» as the helping verb. Here are some general guidelines:

Most verbs use «haben». This includes transitive verbs (verbs that take a direct object) and most intransitive verbs (verbs that don’t take a direct object).

Verbs of motion (movement from one place to another) use «sein». Examples include: gehen (to go), fahren (to drive), kommen (to come), reisen (to travel), laufen (to run).

Verbs that describe a change of state use «sein». Examples include: einschlafen (to fall asleep), aufwachen (to wake up), sterben (to die), werden (to become).

The verbs «sein» (to be), «bleiben» (to stay), and «passieren» (to happen) always use «sein».

Forming the Past Participle

The past participle is usually formed by adding «ge-” to the beginning of the verb stem and “-t» to the end for regular verbs. Irregular verbs have irregular past participles.

Regular Verbs:

kaufen (to buy) -> gekauft (ge-kauft)

spielen (to play) -> gespielt (ge-spielt)

lernen (to learn) -> gelernt (ge-lernt)

machen (to do) -> gemacht (ge-macht)

Irregular Verbs: Irregular verbs have irregular past participles that you’ll need to memorize. Here are a few examples:

essen (to eat) -> gegessen (ge-ges-sen)

trinken (to drink) -> getrunken (ge-trun-ken)

sprechen (to speak) -> gesprochen (ge-shpro-hen)

sehen (to see) -> gesehen (ge-zay-en)

sein (to be) -> gewesen (ge-vay-zen)

haben (to have) -> gehabt (ge-hapht)

Verbs with Inseparable Prefixes: Verbs with inseparable prefixes (be-, ge-, emp-, ent-, er-, ver-, zer-) do not add «ge-” to the past participle. Examples:

besuchen (to visit) -> besucht (be-zooht)

verkaufen (to sell) -> verkauft (fer-kauft)

Verbs Ending in -ieren: Verbs ending in -ieren also do not add «ge-” to the past participle. Examples:

studieren (to study) -> studiert (shtoo-deert)

fotografieren (to photograph) -> fotografiert (fo-to-gra-feert)

Examples of Perfekt Sentences

With «haben»:

Ich habe das Buch gekauft. (ihh hah-be das booh ge-kauft) – I bought the book.

Du hast Deutsch gelernt. (doo hast doitch ge-lernt) – You learned German.

Er hat Fußball gespielt. (air hat foos-bahl ge-shpeelt) – He played soccer.

Wir haben gegessen. (veer hah-ben ge-ges-sen) – We ate.

Sie haben das Haus besucht. (zee hah-ben das haus be-zooht) – They visited the house.

With «sein»:

Ich bin nach Berlin gefahren. (ihh bin nahh ber-leen ge-fah-ren) – I traveled to Berlin.

Du bist zu spät gekommen. (doo bist tsoo shpate ge-ko-men) – You came too late.

Er ist eingeschlafen. (air ist ain-ge-shla-fen) – He fell asleep.

Wir sind zu Hause geblieben. (veer zint tsoo hau-ze ge-blee-ben) – We stayed at home.

Was ist passiert? (vas ist pa-seert) – What happened?

Word Order in Perfekt Sentences

As mentioned before, the helping verb («haben» or «sein») is conjugated and placed in the second position in the sentence. The past participle is always placed at the very end of the sentence.

When to Use the Perfekt

The Perfekt is most commonly used in spoken German to talk about completed actions in the past. It’s generally preferred over the Präteritum (simple past) in everyday conversation, especially in Southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Word Bank

Perfekt (per-fekt) – Perfect Tense

haben (hah-ben) – to have

sein (zain) – to be

Partizip Perfekt (par-tee-tseep per-fekt) – Past Participle

kaufen (kau-fen) – to buy

spielen (shpee-len) – to play

lernen (ler-nen) – to learn

essen (es-sen) – to eat

trinken (trin-ken) – to drink

fahren (fah-ren) – to drive

kommen (ko-men) – to come

bleiben (blai-ben) – to stay

passieren (pa-seer-en) – to happen

besuchen (be-zoo-hen) – to visit

Exercises

Form the past participle of the following verbs: machen, reisen, essen, besuchen, bleiben.

Choose the correct helping verb («haben» or «sein») for the following verbs: spielen, fahren, lernen, sein, passieren.

Translate the following sentences into German using the Perfekt tense:

I bought a car.

You traveled to Italy.

He ate an apple.

We visited our grandparents.

They stayed at home.

What happened?

Rewrite the sentences in exercise 3 in the present tense.

Create five original sentences in the Perfekt tense, using a variety of verbs and helping verbs.

That completes Chapter 10! You now know how to form and use the Perfekt tense, a key tool for expressing yourself in the past in German. Next, we’ll discuss the Simple Past, or Präteritum, tense.