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Perfekt

The document discusses the present perfect tense in German. It notes that the present perfect tense is used more frequently in spoken German than the simple past tense, as the latter sounds more formal. It also denotes actions further in the past without immediate influence. The present perfect tense uses a helping verb (haben or sein) plus the past participle of the main verb. Most verbs use haben as the helping verb, but verbs of motion, change of state, and a few others use sein. Examples are provided of forming and using the present perfect tense.

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Govind Milani
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78 views

Perfekt

The document discusses the present perfect tense in German. It notes that the present perfect tense is used more frequently in spoken German than the simple past tense, as the latter sounds more formal. It also denotes actions further in the past without immediate influence. The present perfect tense uses a helping verb (haben or sein) plus the past participle of the main verb. Most verbs use haben as the helping verb, but verbs of motion, change of state, and a few others use sein. Examples are provided of forming and using the present perfect tense.

Uploaded by

Govind Milani
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Das Perfekt

The Present Perfect Tense


- Anjali Lowalekar
In German, the simple past tense is not used that
frequently in the spoken language, because it sounds
more formal.

The simple past tense also denotes actions which


happened in the past, which are not likely to have an
immediate influence on you today.

The exception to this are the Modalverben, which are


used in the simple past tense, if they have to denote
an action which has already taken place.
What is used instead, is the present perfect tense. (PPT)

This is the tense used more frequently to denote actions which happened in the
recent past.

The German PPT can however be translated into English as the past tense, the
present perfect tense, or the past perfect tense, as per the context of the sentence.

For e.g. Ich habe zum Frühstück einen Apfel gegessen Perfekt

I have eaten an apple for breakfast. Present Perfect


(If it’s the very recent past, i.e. just now, just finished eating).

I had eaten an apple for breakfast. Past Perfect


(If it’s the not so recent past, i.e. this morning, yesterday morning, or
before that).

Ich bin letzte Woche in Berlin gewesen. Perfekt

I was in Berlin last week. Simple Past


The sentence structure changes in the PPT.

A helping verb is used in the sentence, along with the


past participle form of the main verb.

Both, English and German, have a helping verb and a


past participle form of the main verb in the perfect
tense.

In English, they are placed together in the sentence. (I


have/had eaten an apple)

In German, the past participle is placed at the end of


the sentence. (Ich habe einen Apfel gegessen).
The helping verbs used to form the PPT are “haben” and
“sein”.

The helping verb is used in the conjugated form at


position II in the sentence.

The main verb goes to the end of the sentence in the


past participle form.

The helping verb is the conjugated verb in the sentence.


It changes according to the subject.

The past participle form of the verb does not change.


For e.g. Ich habe einen Apfel gegessen.

habe – helping verb “haben” in the conjugated form on position


II.

gegessen – past participle form of the verb “essen”.

Er hat die Hausaufgaben gemacht.

Wir haben Kaffee getrunken.

Paul und Anna sind ins Kino gegangen.

Der Groβvater hat eine Geschichte erzählt.

Er ist heute zu Hause geblieben.


Most verbs form their PPT with the helping verb “haben”. However a very
distinctive few take the helping verb “sein”.
They fall under the following categories:

Category 1 - Verbs of motion.

Any verb which shows movement from one place to another takes the helping
verb “sein” to form its PPT.

For e.g. reisen, fahren, gehen, kommen, laufen, fliegen, rennen, fallen etc.

Er ist sehr schnell gelaufen.

Wir sind letztes Jahr in die Schweiz gefahren.

Gestern ist meine Mutter nach Berlin geflogen.

Ich bin heute früh nach Hause gekommen.

Die Familie ist sonntags in den Park gegangen.


Category 2 – Verbs which show a change in the physical condition
or state.

These are distinctive verbs which show some change in a person


in his/her physical condition or state.

For e.g. einschlafen, aufstehen, sterben, geboren (sein)

Ich bin in den Ferien immer sehr spät eingeschlafen.

Peter ist am Wochenende immer sehr spät aufgestanden.

Der alte Mann ist an einen Herzanfall gestorben.

Meine Freundin ist am 1.en Januar geboren.


Category 3 – Miscellaneous verbs

1. sein – the PPT of the verb “sein” is formed with the


helping verb “sein”.

Ich bin krank. Ich bin krank gewesen.

NOTE: Similarly, the PPT of the verb “haben” is formed with the helping verb “haben”.
E.g. Ich habe heute viel Arbeit – Ich habe heute viel Arbeit gehabt.

2. bleiben –to stay, to remain

Ich bleibe heute zu Hause. Ich bin heute zu Hause


geblieben.
3. werden – to become

Er wird Arzt. Er ist vor zwei Jahren Arzt


geworden.
Forming past participles (PP) of the verbs.

As a rule, the PP forms of verbs NEED TO BE


MEMORISED.

What we have in the following slides are


just guidelines for a few verbs.

They don’t form any hard and fast rules,


which can be applied to all verbs of that
type.
Forming past participles (PP) of the verbs.
MOST WEAK VERBS form their PP with the prefix “ge”
and the ending “t” to the stem of the verb.

For e.g.

kaufen – (kauf) – gekauft

machen – (mach) - gemacht

spielen – (spiel) - gespielt


Forming past participles (PP) of the verbs.
A FEW WEAK VERBS and MANY STRONG VERBS form
their PP simply by adding the prefix “ge” to the
infinitive form of the verb.

For e.g.

kommen – gekommen backen - gebacken

lesen – gelesen schlafen – geschlafen

fahren – gefahren tragen – getragen


Forming past participles (PP) of the verbs.
A FEW WEAK VERBS and MANY STRONG VERBS form their PP by
getting the prefix “ge”, undergoing a change in the stem, and
getting the ending “t”/”en”.

PP = “ge” + change in stem + ending “t”/”en”

For e.g.

nehmen – genommen bringen – gebracht

bleiben – geblieben werden – geworden

essen – gegessen sitzen – gesessen schreiben - geschrieben

stehen – gestanden sprechen - gesprochen


Forming past participles (PP) of the verbs.

ALL VERBS ending with “-ieren” have their third person


singular conjugated form (er, sie, es form) as their PP.

There is no prefix “ge” attached.

For e.g.

studieren – studiert diskutieren – diskutiert

telefonieren – telefoniert fotografieren - fotografiert


Forming past participles (PP) of the verbs.

ALL VERBS WITH INSEPARABLE PREFIXES form their PP in the


following way.

The PP of the main verb (without the prefix “ge”) + the


inseparable prefix of the verb.

For e.g.

versprechen - versprochen bekommen – bekommen

erzählen – erzählt entscheiden - entschieden

beschreiben – beschrieben wiederholen - wiederholt


Forming past participles (PP) of the verbs.
ALL VERBS WITH SEPARABLE PREFIXES form their PP in the
following way.

PP = PP of the main verb + separable prefix

For e.g.
zumachen → gemacht (PP of the main verb) + zu (separable
prefix) = zugemacht

mitnehmen – mitgenommen aufhören – aufgehört

einsteigen – eingestiegen spazierengehen - spazierengegangen

fernsehen – ferngesehen vorbereiten – vorbereitet


1. Die Kinder spielen Fussball. Die Kinder haben Fussball gespielt.

2. Er trinkt Kaffee.

3. Meine Mutter fährt nach Frankfurt.

4. Anna bezahlt für das neue Kleid.

5. Wir haben heute Deutschunterricht.

6. Der Professor gratuliert den Studenten.

7. Diese Kamera funktioniert nicht richtig.

8. Was machst du am Samstag?

9. Das Kind ist krank.

10. Lebt ihr in München?

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