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Time Travelling in German - Visiting the Past with the Perfect Tense
Sample Sentences Using the Perfect Tense
I have done my homework. Ich habe meine
Hausaufgaben gemacht.
I have lived in Sydney.Ich habe in Sydney gewohnt.
We have talked about the problem.
Wir haben über das Problem geredet.
Constructing the PAST PARTICIPLE in German
Languages are governed by rules and exceptions. The rule is a bit like the default setting.
In German, the default setting for forming the past participle is to wrap the letters ge-t around the verb stem. You could represent this as shown below:
ge[verb-stem]t(or ge[verb-stem]et if the verb stem ends in d or t)
To apply this to machen, one of the most important verbs in German: you take off the -en ending, which leaves you with the verb stem, mach. Then all you need to do is add ge to the beginning and t to the end: gemacht!
In English we also have a default setting, which is simply to add the letters -ed, or -d. So our default setting looks like this:
[verb-stem]ed (though we take off e before the d if the verb ends in an e)
In German, there are many well-behaved verbs that are entirely predictable and that follow the ge-(e)t rule exactly, like obedient students following the commands of a strict teacher. Here's a short list, with the verb stem highlighted:
sagen (to say) glauben (to believe) suchen (to seek, to look for) reden (to talk) machen (to make, do) lachen (to laugh) leben (to live)
holen (to fetch) wohnen (to live somewhere) hören (to hear) kochen (to cook) retten (to save, e.g. a life) bauen (to build) malen (to paint)
A Recipe for Constructing the Past Participle in German:
1. Take en off the end of the verb, leaving the naked verb stem.2. Dress it up with ge before the stem and t after it. Add et after it if the verb stem ends in d or t.3. Add the appropriate auxiliary verb, sein or haben, and you have the perfect tense. All of the examples above and below are constructed with the auxiliary haben. The auxiliary sein is used when verbs denote movement or a change of state, but this handout begins with the verbs that are constructed exactly as in English.
Fill in table of regular verbs below. The first row is already complete:
English Infinitive
German Infinitive
Auxiliary(Hilfsverb)
Past Participle Sample Sentence
1 to seek suchen haben gesucht
Ich habe den Schlüssel gesucht, aber ich kann ihn
nicht finden.
2 to say sagen haben __________Ich habe nichts
__________.
3 to build bauen haben gebaut
Wir haben ein Haus
__________.
4 to make, do _______ haben __________
Sie hat keine Hausaufgaben
gemacht.
5 to hear haben gehört Wir haben viel Musik ___________.
6 to talk _______ haben geredet Wir ______ stundenlang
geredet. Es warwirklich toll!
7 to laugh lachen haben ___________
Die zwei Schüler ________ laut _________.
8 to cook kochen haben ___________Mein Vater _______
eine Suppe __________.
X
Die Kinder haben heute Fußball
9 to paint malen haben ___________Das Mädchen ______ ein Porträt _________.
10 to fetch _______ haben geholt
Meine Mutter ist krank. Ich ________ schon den Arzt geholt.
Here are a few examples from the list above:
Infinitive of the VerbPast Participle of
the VerbExample of the Past Participle at Work
suchen - to seek gesucht Ich habe den Schlüssel gesucht.
reden - to talk geredet Wir haben geredet.
machen - to make, do gemacht Ich habe einen Fehler gemacht.
holen - to fetch geholt Hast du schon deine Bücher geholt?
wohnen wohnen Er hat in Berlin gewohnt.
sagen gesagt Sie hat nichts gesagt.
bauen gebaut Wir haben ein Haus gebaut.
lachen gelacht Warum habt ihr gelacht?