A2Tenses

The perfect: talking about the past

Why do “hast” and “gemacht” appear together?

Take a look

Ich habe Deutsch gelernt.

I have learned German.

Take a look

Ich habe Deutsch gelernt.I have learned German.
Sie ist nach Berlin gefahren.She has gone to Berlin.
Wir haben Pizza gegessen.We have eaten pizza.
Er ist eingeschlafen.He has fallen asleep.

The rule

In conversation, German often uses the perfect to talk about past events. It has two parts: a suitable form of haben or sein and a special verb form at the end. With machen, say ich habe gemacht. Many verbs of movement or change use sein, for example: Das Handy ist abgestürzt. Learn the final form with each verb because it is not always formed regularly.

Remember: Perfect = haben or sein + a special verb form at the end.

Goes with lesson 17, 26, 39 of the course.

What differs for you

English uses have with a past participle, so a two-part past form is familiar. German also uses a helper and a special verb form, but sometimes the helper is sein: “Mein Handy ist abgestürzt”. The participle normally stands at the end. Do not carry over English have automatically; learn the helper with the German verb.

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The forms

Perfect: two parts

Grundform	Hilfsverb	Endform
machen	haben	gemacht
wohnen	haben	gewohnt
abstürzen	sein	abgestürzt
kommen	sein	gekommen

Common mistakes

*Ich habe gemacht die Hausaufgaben.Ich habe die Hausaufgaben gemacht.
*Das Handy hat abgestürzt.Das Handy ist abgestürzt.

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Quick check

Form the past participle.machen → ge___
Choose the correct auxiliary verb.Er ___ nach Hause gegangen.
Insert the present perfect.Wir ___ einen Film ___ . (to see)
Choose the correct past participle.Sie hat das Buch ___ .
Correct the mistake.Ich habe nach Berlin gefahren.
Form the past participle.verstehen → ___
Form the present perfect.aufstehen (he)

The answers appear after “Check”.

The same exercises come back in the course — there Langula remembers what you know and asks again at the right moment. Learn German free →

← Grammar

Tenses

A1Present tense: regular verbsWhy is it “ich spiele” but “du spielst”?A2War and hatte: the simple pastWhat does war show in “Gestern war ein schöner Tag”?B1Past perfectThe past perfect describes an action that took place before another action in the past.A2Konnte, musste, wollteHow do you use können for a past ability?B2Future perfectThe future perfect describes an action that will be completed at a future point in time.

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