Pefect tense (German: das Perfekt / die Vorgegenwart / das vollendete Gegenwart) is one way of describing past events in German.
Example sentences
- Ich habe das gemacht.
- Du hast das gemacht.
- Mein Vater hat das gemacht.
- Ihr habt meine Mutter besucht.
- Ich habe dich angerufen.
- Sie hat ein Glas Wein getrunken.
- Ich bin nach Berlin gefahren.
- Sie sind noch nicht gestorben.
- Er ist krank geworden.
- Wir sind in Deutschland gewesen.
Verb 1: auxiliary (helping) verb
- Can be either haben or sein.
- Use haben with transitive verbs. A verb is transitive if it can take a direct object; that is, the action of the verb happens to someone or something.
- Use sein with intransitive verbs. Some people prefer to think of this as when there is movement or a change of state or the verb list tells us to.
- Use in present tense with the ending matching the subject (ich habe, du hast…).
- Place in the second position in the sentence, unless it is a yes/no question.
- More detail about when to use haben or sein (in German).
Verb 2: past participle
- Formed from the stem of the infinitive form of the verb. Sometimes the stem changes a bit; for example, trinken – getrunken.
- Typically has ge- prefix, but not if the verb starts with be-, ent-, er-, über-, unter-, ver-, zer- or ends in -ieren.
- Has the ge- between a separable prefix and the stem of the verb; for example, eingeladen, ausgepackt, aufgehängt.
- Typically has -t suffix (but sometimes -en).
- Placed at the end of the sentence/clause.
Usage in German
- Perfect tense is the most common way to describe past events, particularly when speaking, or when writing informally. If in doubt, use perfect tense!
- Imperfect tense is commonly used for the verbs haben (I had = ich hatte), sein (I was = ich war), the modal verbs, and when writing something formal.
Compared to English
- I drank a glass of water. – Imperfect tense – Used to talk about something that happened at a fixed point in the past.
- I have drunk a glass of water. – Perfect tense – Used to talk about something that happened in the past, but still has some impact on the present.