Grammar — A2

The Perfekt is the most common past tense in spoken German. It is formed with an auxiliary verb (haben or sein) in the present tense plus the past participle (Partizip II) of the main verb. Most verbs use 'haben', but verbs of movement or change of state use 'sein'.

• • haben/sein (conjugated) + past participle at the end of the sentence
• • Regular verbs form the past participle with ge- + stem + -t: machen → gemacht
• • Irregular verbs often change the stem and end in -en: gehen → gegangen
• • Verbs with inseparable prefixes (be-, er-, ver-, ent-, emp-, zer-, ge-, miss-) do NOT add ge-: besuchen → besucht
• • Verbs ending in -ieren do NOT add ge-: studieren → studiert
• • Use 'sein' with verbs of movement (gehen, fahren, fliegen) and change of state (werden, sterben)

Tip: In everyday spoken German, the Perfekt is used much more often than the Präteritum (simple past). Think of it as the default past tense for conversation.