The past: recounting yesterday
The Perfekt. Two ingredients — a helper verb and a past participle — and the participle waits at the end of the sentence.
Colours live this week
10 of 10 in playA thing, a person or a place.
An action or a state — what is happening.
Describes a noun.
Modifies a verb or an adjective.
the / a / some — and possessives like mon, ma.
Stands in for a noun — I, you, he, it.
Links words together — to, in, of, for.
Joins two parts of a sentence.
Opens a question — where, when, how, why.
Learn it whole. Do not take it apart.
Past participles are verb forms, so they stay green — and unlike French and Italian, they never change to agree with anyone.
How it is built, and where it sits
Two ingredients: haben or sein in the present, plus the past participle. Most verbs use haben. A small group of motion verbs use sein. Most participles are built with ge- at the front: machen becomes gemacht, kaufen becomes gekauft. And the participle goes to the very end of the sentence: Ich habe gestern im Café gegessen. The helper verb holds second place; the participle waits at the back.
Seven participles that use haben
Learn each one already attached to ich habe. Say the whole frame — including the gap where the object will go.
- Ich habe gesprochenI spoke
sprechen → gesprochen
- Ich habe gemachtI did / I made
machen → gemacht
- Ich habe gesehenI saw
sehen → gesehen
- Ich habe genommenI took
nehmen → genommen
- Ich habe gegessenI ate
essen → gegessen
- Ich habe getrunkenI drank
trinken → getrunken
- Ich habe gekauftI bought
kaufen → gekauft
The sein verbs — motion and change
Verbs of going and becoming take sein rather than haben. Unlike French, the participle does not change for the speaker's gender.
| Verb | Participle | In a sentence | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| gehen | gegangen | Ich bin ins Kino gegangen. | I went to the cinema. |
| fahren | gefahren | Ich bin nach Berlin gefahren. | I travelled to Berlin. |
| kommen | gekommen | Ich bin nach Hause gekommen. | I came home. |
| bleiben | geblieben | Ich bin zu Hause geblieben. | I stayed at home. |
A gift from German
The participle never changes for gender. Ich bin gegangen whether you are a man or a woman. French makes you track je suis allé against je suis allée, and Italian sono andato against sono andata; German simply does not. One less thing, permanently — and a fair trade for the word order.
When it happened
- [gestern]yesterday
- [heute Morgen]this morning
- [gestern Abend]last night
Literally yesterday evening.
- [letzte Woche]last week
Sentence frames
- 1
[Gestern] habe ich im Café gegessen.
Yesterday I ate at the café.
Start with gestern and the verb still takes second place, so ich moves behind it.
- 2
Ich bin nach place gefahren.
I travelled to ___.
- 3
Was haben Sie [gestern] gemacht?
What did you do yesterday?
Worth learning whole. It is the question you will be asked most often — and notice gemacht waiting at the end.
Daily mini-tasks
Listening this week
Slow German mit Annik Rubens
Podcast apps
Exactly what the name says: clear, unhurried, and about real German life. Listen for the ich habe… gemacht shape with the participle at the end.