Present perfect (Perfekt) in German
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The present perfect can either be used to refer to a completed action in the past, or to explain actions that begun in the past, but are not finished yet. The present perfect (Perfekt) is the past tense that is most often used to describe events from the past in spoken language, instead of the simple past (Präteritum).
Example of the use of the perfect:
Explanation of the example:
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There are some marker words, that are often used in combination with the present perfect. See some of them in the table below.
Marker word | Translation |
---|---|
gestern | yesterday |
vor einer Woche/einer Minute/zehn Tagen | one week/one minute/ten days ago |
heute früh/heute Nachmittag | this morning/this afternoon |
gestern früh/ gestern Nachmittag | yesterday morning/yesterday afternoon |
schon | already |
gerade | just |
For example:
To form the present perfect in German, we use the present tense of one of the auxiliaries sein or haben in combination with the participle II of the main verb. Click on the link, if you need more information on how to built the participle II. So, the general structure is made by using the prefix 'ge-':
In the table below, you can see how the auxiliaries are declined in the right way.
Subject | sein | haben |
---|---|---|
ich | bin | habe |
du | bist | hast |
er/ sie/ es | ist | hat |
wir | sind | haben |
ihr | seid | habt |
sie/Sie | sind | haben |
The auxiliaries you find above are conjugated irregularly. Try to keep them in your mind and learn them by heart.
The typical construction of the past participle of a weak verb, looks le following way:
Infinitive of the verb | Verb stem | Ending | Participle |
---|---|---|---|
leben (to live) | leb- | -t | gelebt |
lachen (to laugh) | lach- | -t | gelacht |
fragen (to ask) | frag- | -t | gefragt |
arbeiten (to work) | arbeit- | -et | gearbeitet |
öffnen (to open up) | öffne- | -et | geöffnet |
atmen (to breath) | atm- | -et | geatmet |
Here are some example sentences:
The past participle of strong verbs is formed by adding the perfix ge- and the ending -en:
ge- + infinitive sten + -en
Infinitive of the verb | Verb stem | Ending | Participle |
---|---|---|---|
singen (to sing) | sing- | -en | gesungen |
sprechen (to speak) | sprech- | -en | gesprochen |
brechen (to break) | brech- | -en | gebrochen |
nehmen (to take) | nehm- | -en | genommen |
lesen (to read) | les- | -en | gelesen |
sehen (to see) | seh- | -en | gesehen |
Find some example sentences below:
You should use the auxiliary verb sein in combination with the participle, if:
Usage | Examples |
the verb in the sentence has a direct object | Stefanie hat ihr Zimmer aufgeräumt. (Stefanie cleaned up her room.) |
the verb in the sentence has no direct object | Stefanie hat aufgeräumt. (She cleaned up.) |
the sentence contains of a reflexive verb | Stefanie hat sich verändert. (Stefanie has changed.) |
You should use the auxiliary verb haben and the participle to use the present perfect, if:
Usage | Examples |
the sentence contains of a verb of movement (without direct object), e.g. gehen, laufen, rennen, etc. | Wir sind in seinen Garten gegangen. (We went to his garden.) |
the verbs describes changed in the situation, e.g. einschlafen, aufwachen, etc. | Sie ist aus ihren Träumen aufgewacht. (She woke up from her dreams.) |
the sentence contains of bleiben, sein, werden | Es ist ihm gelungen. (He has succeeded.) |
Don't forget to try out free exercises, to test your knowledge about the present perfect in German.
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After training as a pastry chef and studying business administration, I traveled a lot and discovered my interest in languages. To find out more about teaching languages, I decided on further training at the Goethe Institute and completed it. During the Goethe Institute "Learn to teach German" course I was able to give individual language lessons and actively support the examination preparation for the Goethe certificate.
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