GermanFluent

A1 · Perfect tense

gemacht: ge- … -t

regular verbs: ge- + stem + -t

Formge- + Verbstamm + -t (Partizip Perfekt, regelmäßige Verben)

Meaning and usage

Many German verbs form the past participle with ge- at the front and -t at the end: machen becomes gemacht, kaufen becomes gekauft. This participle goes at the very end of the sentence, and haben or sein stands in second position: Ich habe ein Foto gemacht.

Two groups do not take ge-. Verbs with an inseparable prefix keep the prefix and add only -t: besuchen becomes besucht. Verbs ending in -ieren add only -t: studieren becomes studiert. If the stem ends in -t or -d, the ending is -et: arbeiten becomes gearbeitet. The common mistake is to put ge- on these verbs anyway.

Examples 6

Test yourself

  1. 1 Sprachbausteine

    Ich habe gestern Musik .

    Show answer

    Correct answer: gehört

    hören is a regular verb, so the past participle is gehört: ge- plus the stem hör- plus -t. It stands at the end of the sentence.

    • gehöret The stem hör- does not end in -t or -d, so the ending is -t, not -et.
    • gehören This is the infinitive, not the participle, so it cannot stand at the end here.
    • hört This is the third person singular present form, not a participle.

In this topic: Perfect tense

  1. haben + … + Partizip most verbs form the perfect with haben
  2. gemacht: ge- … -t regular verbs: ge- + stem + -t
  3. gegessen: ge- … -en strong verbs: ge- + stem + -en
  4. angerufen, eingekauft Separable verbs: ge- goes inside the verb
  5. studiert, besucht No ge- in participles of -ieren and inseparable verbs
  6. sein + … + gefahren went, came, arrived: movement in the perfect
  7. war, hatte was, were, had (simple past of sein and haben)

Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.