German Perfect Tense: Haben or Sein, Participles

Regular (weak) verbs: ge- … -t

Most German verbs are weak: their stem never changes. Take the infinitive, remove -en to find the stem, and wrap it in ge- and -t. If the stem ends in -t or -d, add -et so the ending can be heard: gearbeitet.

Irregular (strong) verbs: ge- … -en

Strong verbs end their participle in -en, and many change their vowel, just as English says “drink, drank, drunk”. They are among the most common verbs, so they are worth learning as pairs. Grouped by vowel change, they are easier to remember.

Pattern	Infinitive	Participle	Meaning
no change	sehen	▶ gesehen	seen
no change	fahren	▶ gefahren	driven
no change	schlafen	▶ geschlafen	slept
i → u	trinken	▶ getrunken	drunk
i → u	finden	▶ gefunden	found
ei → ie	schreiben	▶ geschrieben	written
ei → i	reiten	▶ geritten	ridden
e → o	sprechen	▶ gesprochen	spoken
e → o	helfen	▶ geholfen	helped
irregular	gehen	▶ gegangen	gone
irregular	essen	▶ gegessen	eaten
irregular	sein	▶ gewesen	been

When ge- moves or disappears

Verbs ending in -ieren Borrowed verbs stressed on -ieren take no ge-, just -t.

Inseparable prefixes Verbs beginning be-, ver-, er-, ent-, ge-, zer- or emp- already start with an unstressed syllable, so no ge- is added.

Separable verbs Verbs with a detachable front part, like an-rufen, put ge- in the middle.

Haben or sein?

Most verbs use haben. A smaller group uses sein: verbs of movement from A to B and verbs of change of state, plus sein and bleiben themselves. The test: can the verb take a direct object? If it can, it uses haben.

Some movement verbs switch to haben when they take an object: Ich bin nach Köln gefahren (I drove to Cologne) but Ich habe das Auto gefahren (I drove the car).

IchIbinamnachtoWienViennageflogen.flown

ikh bin nahkh VEEN guh-FLOH-gun “I flew to Vienna.” Why: Fliegen is movement from A to B: sein.

Wirwehabenhavelangelonggeschlafen.slept

veer HAH-bun LAHNG-uh guh-SHLAH-fun “We slept in.” Why: Schlafen involves no movement or change: haben.

Erheistismüdetiredgeworden.become

air ist MÜ-duh guh-VOR-dun “He got tired.” Why: Werden, “to become”, is a change of state: sein.

BistareduyouzuatHausehomegeblieben?stayed

bist doo tsoo HOW-zuh guh-BLEE-bun “Did you stay at home?” Why: Bleiben, “to stay”, takes sein even though nothing moves: one of the two exceptions.

Perfekt or Präteritum?

German has a second past tense, the Präteritum (simple past): ich spielte, ich ging. Both mean the same. The difference is style: speech uses the Perfekt, while novels and news reports use the Präteritum. The exception is a small group of very common verbs that everyone uses in the Präteritum even when speaking, because the short form is easier.

Verb	Said in speech	Meaning
sein	▶ ich war	I was
haben	▶ ich hatte	I had
können	▶ ich konnte	I could
müssen	▶ ich musste	I had to
es gibt	▶ es gab	there was

What did you do at the weekend?

The question every German colleague asks on Monday. The helper verbs are in red. Every word has its English meaning underneath.

Waswhathasthaveduyouamat-theWochenendeweekendgemacht?done
vahs hahst doo am VOKH-un-en-duh guh-MAHKHT “What did you do at the weekend?”
Question: Machen is regular: gemacht.
AmonSamstagSaturdaybinamichIfrühearlyaufgestanden.got-up
am ZAHM-stahk bin ikh FRÜ OWF-guh-shtahn-dun “On Saturday I got up early.”
sein: Aufstehen is separable and a change of state (lying → standing).
IchIhabehaveaufatdemtheMarktmarketeingekauft.shopped
ikh HAH-buh owf daim MARKT INE-guh-kowft “I did some shopping at the market.”
haben: Einkaufen is separable, so ge- goes inside: eingekauft.
DannthensindarewirweantodentheSeelakegefahren.driven
dahn zint veer ahn dain ZAY guh-FAH-run “Then we drove to the lake.”
sein: Movement to a place: sein. An den See is accusative because it is movement (see cases).
WirwehabenhavegeschwommenswumundandEisice-creamgegessen.eaten
veer HAH-bun guh-SHVOM-un oont ICE guh-GESS-un “We went swimming and had ice cream.”
haben: Schwimmen here describes an activity, not a journey, so haben; essen has an object.
Esitwarwasherrlich!wonderful
es vahr HAIR-likh “It was wonderful!”
Präteritum: Even in speech, sein uses the short past: war, not ist gewesen.

Gewesen, gehabt, gewusst: participles to learn by heart

These common verbs have irregular participles. Learn each with its auxiliary.

Ich habe gestern im Park gelesen: where everything goes

The auxiliary sits in second place and the participle goes to the very end. Everything else (time, manner, place, objects) fills the space between, like a sandwich.

Time + place

IchIhabehavegesternyesterdayim Parkin-the parkgelesen.read

ikh HAA-be GES-tern im PARK ge-LAY-zen · “I read in the park yesterday.”Why: Time before place, participle last.

Object

Wirwehabenhaveden Filmthe filmschonalreadygesehen.seen

veer HAA-ben dayn FILM shohn ge-ZAY-en · “We’ve already seen the film.”Why: The object goes in the middle too.

Question

Hasthaveduyougutwellgeschlafen?slept

HAST doo GOOT ge-SHLAA-fen · “Did you sleep well?”Why: Yes/no question: auxiliary first, participle still last.

Subordinate

…, weilbecauseichIkrankillgewesenbeenbin.am

vail ikh KRANK ge-VAY-zen BIN · “… because I was ill.”Why: After weil, the auxiliary moves to the very end, after the participle.

The German perfect tense: how Germans talk about the past