Edexcel International GCSE German (4GN1) · Grammar spine 6 of 10 — The perfect tense
Mini-Lesson
The perfect tense
The Perfekt is how Germans talk about the past in speech and writing — "I played", "I went". It has two parts: an auxiliary (haben or sein) in second position, and a past participle parked at the very end. This lesson builds both halves and shows exactly when to pick sein.
Ich habe Fußball gespielt.auxiliary (2nd) … past participle (end)
Work through each screen and answer the questions as you go. Collect ⭐ stars and press Start.
What it does
The everyday past tense
English has "I played" and "I have played". German mostly uses one tense — the Perfekt — for both, especially when speaking:
Ich habe gestern Tennis gespielt. → I played tennis yesterday.
Wir haben einen Film gesehen. → We watched / have watched a film.
The pattern never changes: conjugate the auxiliary for the person, and send the participle to the end. Only these two pieces do all the work.
The frame
haben (or sein) + participle at the end
Think of the sentence as a bracket: the auxiliary opens it in slot 2, the participle closes it at the end. Everything else sits inside:
subject
auxiliary
… middle …
participle
Ich
habe
gestern Pizza
gegessen
Wir
sind
ins Kino
gegangen
The participle is patient: however long the middle, it waits at the very end. This "verb bracket" is one of German's signature structures.
Quick check
Where does the participle go?
?Which is correct German for "I played football"?
Building participles · weak verbs
Regular: ge- … -t
For a regular (weak) verb, wrap the stem in ge- and -t:
arbeiten → gearbeitet (worked — extra -e- after -t)
Most verbs are weak, so this is your default. If the stem ends in -t or -d, add an -e- for sound: gearbeitet.
Type it
Your turn — a regular participle
1Write the past participle of machen (to do/make).
Hint: ge- + mach + -t.
Building participles · strong verbs
Strong: ge- … -en (learn each one)
Strong verbs end in -en and often change their stem vowel. There's no shortcut — memorise the high-frequency ones:
infinitive
participle
essen (to eat)
gegessen
trinken (to drink)
getrunken
sehen (to see)
gesehen
sprechen (to speak)
gesprochen
lesen (to read)
gelesen
nehmen (to take)
genommen
Nearly all take haben:Ich habe … gegessen / getrunken / gesehen / gesprochen. These six alone cover a huge share of what you'll write about food and free time.
Quick check
The right participle
?What is the past participle of essen (to eat)?
Sort it
Pick the participle
Type it
Your turn — a strong participle
2Write the past participle of sehen (to see).
Hint: strong verb — ge- + sehen, keeping the -en.
Choosing the auxiliary
haben or sein?
Most verbs take haben. Use sein for verbs of movement from A to B or a change of state:
haben
Most verbs, especially with an object: essen, trinken, sehen, spielen, machen.
sein
Movement / change: gehen, fahren, kommen, fliegen, bleiben, werden, sein.
Ich bin nach Berlin gefahren. — I travelled to Berlin.
Wir sind ins Kino gegangen. — We went to the cinema.
Two odd ones to memorise:bleiben (to stay) and sein (to be) also take sein: Ich bin geblieben, ich bin gewesen.
Quick check
haben or sein?
?Which is correct German for "I travelled to Berlin"?
Type it
Your turn — a "sein" participle
3Write the past participle of gehen (to go).
Hint: strong and irregular — ge- + gang + -en.
Sort it
haben or sein?
Sort each verb by the auxiliary it uses in the Perfekt.
Uses haben
Uses sein
Three "no-ge- or split-ge-" groups
When ge- moves or vanishes
Three tidy exceptions to the ge- rule:
-ieren verbs take noge-: telefonieren → telefoniert, studieren → studiert.