Perfect Tense

The perfect tense (Perfekt) is used to describe completed actions in the past. It is the most commonly used past tense in everyday conversation.

Examples:

Ich habe gestern einen Film gesehen. (I watched a movie yesterday.)

Er ist nach Berlin gefahren. (He drove to Berlin.)

Forming the Perfect Tense

The perfect tense is formed with an auxiliary verb (either haben or sein) plus the past participle of the main verb:

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Perfect Tense is formed as haben/sein (conjugated in present tense) + past participle

Using haben vs sein

Use sein for:

Verbs that show movement from A to B (gehen - to go, fahren - to drive, fliegen - to fly).

Example: Ich bin nach Hause gegangen. (I went home.)

Verbs that show a change of state or condition (aufwachen - to wake up, sterben - to die).

Example: Sie ist eingeschlafen. (She fell asleep.)

With these specific verbs: sein (to be), bleiben (to stay), and werden (to become).

Example:

Ich bin im Kino gewesen. (I was at the cinema.)
Wir sind zu Hause geblieben. (We stayed at home.)

Use haben for:

Almost everything else! Haben is the default. If the verb doesn't fit the sein rules, you use haben.

Example: Ich habe gegessen. (I have eaten.) → No movement, no change of state.

Forming the Past Participle

Regular (weak) verbs form the past participle as follows:

ge + verb stem + t

Example: spielen → gespielt (played)

Ich habe Fußball gespielt. (I played soccer.)

Irregular (strong) verbs often have a vowel change and end in -en:

ge + modified verb stem + en

Example: sehen → gesehen (seen)

Ich habe den Film gesehen. (I saw the movie.)

Special Cases for Past Participles

Verbs with inseparable prefixes: Do not add ge-

Example: verstehen → verstanden (understood)

Ich habe dich verstanden. (I understood you.)

Verbs with separable prefixes: Place -ge- between the prefix and the stem

Example: anfangen → angefangen (begun)

Wir haben pünktlich angefangen. (We started on time.)

Verbs ending in -ieren: Do not add "ge-"

Example: studieren → studiert (studied)

Sie hat Medizin studiert. (She studied medicine.)

Word Order in Perfect Tense

In a main clause, the auxiliary verb (haben/sein) is in the second position, and the past participle goes to the end of the clause:

Example: Ich habe gestern ein Buch gekauft. (I bought a book yesterday.)

In a subordinate clause, both the auxiliary verb and the past participle go to the end, with the auxiliary verb last:

Example: Ich weiß, dass er das Buch gekauft hat. (I know that he bought the book.)