Past Tense Notes

Usage and Meaning of the Past Tense

The past tense you will need most frequently is called the Perfect Tense.

It is used to describe past events in speaking and in letters etc.

It can translate several meanings in English:

I did

I have done

I was doing

I used to do

All of these will be translated by the perfect tense in German.

Formation of the Perfect Tense

The perfect tense always has TWO parts:

1. the appropriate part of the present tense of “haben” or “sein” in SECOND PLACE in the sentence

2. a PAST PARTICIPLE (usually beginning with ge-) at the END of the sentence.

With most regular verbs the past participle is formed by ge- on the front of the infinitive and taking the –en ending off the infinitive and adding –t.

Irregular verbs may have a vowel change in the past participle and need to be learnt individually. The past participle usually ends in

–en not –t.

Some verbs have a prefix that separates from the verb in the present tense e.g. ich stehe um 8Uhr auf. In the perfect tense this prefix joins back up with the past participle with the ge- sandwiched between the two parts e.g. aufgestanden.

There are some verbs which never add ge- to the past participle because it sounds too odd:

foreign verbs e.g. reservieren > ich habe ein Zimmer reserviert

verbs with beginning with er- emp- ver- zer- be- ge-

There only a few verbs that take “sein” instead of “haben” in the perfect tense, but they are quite common verbs and they usually involve movement or a change of state.

The most important verbs that take “sein” are:

gehen >bin gegangen

fahren > bin gefahren

kommen > bin gekommen

fallen > bin gefallen

schwimmen > bin geschwommen

bleiben (to stay) > bin geblieben

steigen (to climb) > bin gestiegen

sterben (to die) > ist gestorben

For further help with the Perfect Tense see p.96 and p. 211 in Mach Mit!