Perfekt, or the “perfect tense,” is a verb tense used to describe completed actions or events that have occurred in the past. It is commonly used in spoken German and informal writing to describe past events.
To form the Perfekt tense, you need two components: a helping verb (either haben or sein) and a past participle.
Helping verb: In most cases, you will use “haben” (to have) as the helping verb. However, for verbs that indicate movement or change of state, you will use “sein” (to be). Some common examples of verbs that use “sein” are gehen (to go), kommen (to come), and bleiben (to stay).
Past participle: The past participle is formed differently based on the type of verb:
- Regular verbs: Add “ge” to the beginning of the verb stem and “t” at the end. For example, the past participle of “spielen” (to play) is “gespielt.”
- Irregular verbs: Some verbs have an irregular past participle. For example, “sehen” (to see) becomes “gesehen” and “fahren” (to drive) becomes “gefahren.”
- Verbs with inseparable prefixes: These verbs do not add “ge” to form the past participle. For example, “besuchen” (to visit) becomes “besucht.”
- Verbs with separable prefixes: The prefix is separated and “ge” is inserted between the prefix and the verb stem. For example, “aufstehen” (to get up) becomes “aufgestanden.”
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Here’s an example of Perfekt in a sentence:
- Ich habe ein Buch gelesen. (I have read a book.) — In this sentence, “habe” is the helping verb (from haben) and “gelesen” is the past participle of the verb “lesen” (to read).
Keep in mind that the Perfekt tense is used in conversational German and informal writing. For formal writing and reporting past events, you will often use the Präteritum (simple past) tense instead.
Quiz – Perfekt:
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