Verb tenses
Past tense
In German, there are two main past tenses:
- the perfect tense
- the simple past
The perfect tense
The one most commonly used in simple conversations is the perfect tense. It corresponds most closely with the English 'I have worked', but it also corresponds to 'I worked' and 'I have been working'.
The perfect tense in German has two parts: the present tense of 'haben' (to have) or 'sein' (to be) plus the past participle.
The past participle of weak/regular verbs
Go to the stem of the infinitive, and add 'ge-' at the beginning and '-t' at the end:
| Verb infinitive | Example using past participle | English translations |
| spielen | Ich habe Tennis gespielt. | I played tennis./I have played tennis. |
| machen | Was hast du gemacht? | What have you done?/What did you do? |
| kaufen | Anna hat einen neuen Pullover gekauft. | Anna has bought a new pullover. |
NB: Note that weak verbs whose stem ends in '-t' add '-et' at the end. For example:
| arbeiten | Ihr habt sehr gut gearbeitet. | You (plural familiar) have worked very well. |
The past participle of strong/irregular verbs
Go to the stem of the infinitive (see verb endings under verbs), add 'ge-' at the beginning and '-en' at the end. Note also that strong verbs mostly change the vowel in the stem:
| Verb infinitive | Example using past participle | English translations |
| schreiben | Ich habe einen Brief geschrieben. | I wrote a letter/I have written a letter. |
| trinken | Sie hat ein Glas Wein getrunken. | She drank a glass of wine/She has drunk a glass of wine. |
| singen | Ihr habt sehr schön gesungen. | You (plural familiar) sang/have sung very nicely. |
| gewinnen | Wer hat gewonnen? | Who (has) won? |
NB: As always, there are some exceptions:
Verbs which already begin with 'ge-', as in 'gewinnen' in the example above, do not add an extra 'ge-' in the past participle. Similarly, verbs which begin with 'be-', 'ver-' or 'er-' also do not add 'ge-' at the beginning of the past participle.
| Ich habe meinen Onkel besucht. | I visited my uncle. |
| Ihr habt die Geschichte sehr schön erzählt. | You told the story beautifully. |
| Wir haben nicht verstanden. | We didn’t understand. |
| Ich habe vergessen. | I’ve forgotten. |
The perfect tense with separable verbs
| zumachen: Wer hat die Tür zugemacht? | Who shut the door? |
| anfangen: Haben sie nocht nicht angefangen? | Have they not started yet? |
NB: Note that the separable prefixes 'zu-' and 'an-' in these examples come before the 'ge-' of the past participle.
The perfect tense with reflexive verbs
| Ich habe mich schnell umgezogen. | I got changed quickly. |
| Wir haben uns umgedreht. | We turned around. |
The perfect tense with haben or sein
All verbs form the perfect tense with 'haben', unless they indicate some form of motion, or a change of state.
Examples of 'motion' verbs are:
- 'gehen' (to go)
- 'kommen' (to come)
Examples of verbs showing a 'change of state', much fewer in number, are:
- aufwachen (to wake up)
- einschlafen (to fall asleep)
- werden (to become)
| Ich bin nach Paris geflogen. | I flew to Paris. |
| Wir sind durch den Tunnel gefahren. | We went/travelled through the Channel Tunnel. |
| Er ist zu Fuß nach Hause gegangen. | He went home on foot/he walked home. |
| Ich bin heute morgen sehr früh aufgewacht. | I woke up very early this morning. |
| Sie ist schnell eingeschlafen. | She fell asleep quickly. |
| Er ist böse geworden. | He got angry. |
NB: Two common exceptions which also form the perfect tense with 'sein' are 'sein' itself and 'bleiben' (to stay).
| Ich bin nie im Ausland gewesen. | I have never been abroad. |
| Ich bin zu Hause geblieben. | I stayed at home. |
Example of the perfect tense with 'haben' and 'sein'
A good illustration of the perfect tense with both 'haben' and 'sein' is seen in the Goldilocks story.
Goldlöckchen ist in den Wald gegangen und sie hat schöne Blumen für ihre Mutti gepflückt. Sie hat sich aber verlaufen und ist traurig geworden. Sie hat lange geweint. Sie ist bei den Bären eingeschlafen, bis die Bären zurückgekommen sind. Dann ist Goldlöckchen schnell nach Hause gelaufen. Danach ist sie zu Hause geblieben und ist nicht mehr alleine in den Wald gegangen.
Translated, this is:
Goldilocks went into the wood and picked pretty flowers for her mummy. However, she got lost and became sad. She cried for a long time. She fell asleep at the bears' house until the bears came back. Then Golidlocks ran home quickly. After that, she stayed at home and never went into the woods alone again.
The simple past tense
The only two verbs you will need to use in the classroom in the simple past tense are 'sein' and 'haben' and some modal verbs (see Modal verbs).
| haben | ich hatte | I had |
| du hattest | You (singular familiar) had | |
| Sie hatten | You (singular formal) had | |
| er/sie/es hatte | He/she/it had | |
| wir hatten | We had | |
| ihr hattet | You (plural familiar) had | |
| Sie hatten | You (plural formal) had | |
| sie hatten | They had | |
| sein | ich war | I was |
| du warst | You (singular familiar) were | |
| Sie waren | You (singular formal) were | |
| er/sie/es war | He/she/it was | |
| wir waren | We were | |
| ihr wart | You (plural familiar) were | |
| Sie waren | You (plural formal) were | |
| sie waren | They were |