In everyday or colloquial German, the perfect tense is the most common way to talk about completed past actions. It’s formed using two verbs: an haben(have) or sein(be) + the past participle of the main verb. For example:
Wir haben uns gestern getroffen.
We met yesterday.
Did you notice that we didn’t translate haben getroffen as “have met”? That’s because the meaning of the perfect tense in German is much more like the meaning of the normal past tense (or “simple past”).
In this post, we’ll talk about when to use the German perfect tense, how to form it, and how to use it to form sentences. Ready to have a look? Let’s get down to business!
In German, we use the perfect tense (or Perfekt) to talk about completed past actions. That might seem pretty simple, but it’s made pretty tricky by the fact that, in German, another past tense, the simple past tense (or Präteritum) is also used to talk about completed past actions. Compare these two:
Wir haben dich gesehen.
We saw you.
Der Angeklagte gestand die Tat.
The defendant confessed to the crime.
In English, there’s a difference in meaning between the simple past (“I was here”), and the perfect tense (“I have been here”). But German is different! In German, the difference between the perfect and the simple past is in style, feeling, and context, rather than meaning.
Use the perfect tense when you speak or write to someone informally.
Use the simple past when you write a formal letter, in scientific or literary texts, or when you write to someone formally.
We never use the perfect tense of the following verbs: modal verbs (e.g. konnte(can)), haben(to have), sein(to be), and wissen(to know). For example, these sentences still sound casual:
Ich konnte dich sehen.
I could see you.
Das wusste ich nichts.
I didn’t know that.
Additionally, in a casual context, you can use the verbs kommen(to come), gehen(to go), or finden(to have an opinion), in the perfect tense or the simple past.
In German, the perfect tense is formed by combining the present tense of an haben(have) or sein(be), with the past participle of the main verb.
Ich habe dich gesehen.
I saw you.
lit. I have seen you.
Ich bin in die Stadt gegangen.
I went to town.
lit. I am gone to town.
It’s a lot like the perfect tense in English (e.g. “have seen”) except that in German you will sometimes use sein(be) in place of haben(have).
Let’s look first at how to choose between haben and sein, then we can get around to discussing how to form past participles.
In the German perfect tense, the main verb will determine whether you should use haben or sein as the auxiliary. Unfortunately, while there are some generalizations you can use to help you remember, some memorization is involved here.
In general, more verbs will use haben, but the verbs that use sein are often very common. If you want a really in-depth description of the differences, you can check out our post on when to use haben vs. sein, but here’s a quick overview of the differences:
Use sein for… | Example Verbs | Example Sentences |
|---|---|---|
verbs indicating change of location | gehen(to go)laufen(to walk)fliegen(to fly)schwimmen(to swim)rennen(to run)hüpfen(to hop)springen(to jump)sinken(to sink) | seinmain verb Wir sind nach England geflogen. We flew to England. Bist du vom Sprungturm gesprungen? Did you jump off the diving tower? |
verbs indicating change of state | werden(to become)wachsen(to grow)zerbrechen(to break apart)austrocknen(to dry out)schmelzen(to melt) | seinmain verb Die Gläser sind zerbrochen. The glasses broke apart. Mein Eis ist geschmolzen. My ice-cream has melted. |
verbs for “accidental” happenings | passieren(to happen)auffallen(to strike)geschehen(to occur)missglücken(to fail)misslingen(to fail)begegnen(to encounter) | seinmain verb Was ist passiert? What happened? Der Kuchen ist mir gelungen. The cake has been a failure/success. |
a few very common verbs | sein(to be)werden(to become)bleiben(to stay) | seinmain verb Ich bin noch nie dort gewesen. I’ve never been there. Du bist richtig groß geworden! You’ve grown a lot! |
Use haben for other verbs, including… | Examples |
|---|---|
verbs that have an | habenaccusative casepast participle Der Pilot hat das Flugzeug geflogen. The pilot flew the airplane. Wer hat die Gläser zerbrochen? Who broke the glasses? |
verbs that are used with | habenreflexive pronounpast participle Ich habe mich verlaufen. I lost my way. lit. I went astray myself. Das Ozonloch hat sich vergrößert. The ozone hole has grown. lit. The ozone hole has enlarged itself. |
Every verb ending with -ieren | markieren(to mark), dekorieren(to decorate)... |
Want to see a longer list of verbs that take haben vs. sein? Check out this study resource: German verbs that take haben vs. sein!
In southern Germany and Switzerland, the posture verbs like stehen(to stand), liegen(to lie), and sitzen(to sit), are formed with sein, not with haben.
Ich habe am Bahnhof gestanden.
I stood at the station.
Ich bin am Bahnhof gestanden.
I stood at the station.
In German, most past participles will be formed by adding ge- to the beginning of the stem and -t or -en to the end of the stem. However there are quite a few irregular forms which don’t quite follow the rules.
For a complete discussion of the rules and exceptions, check out our post on German past participles. If you just need a quick overview, though, here are the rules:
Most verbs follow this pattern:
Regular verbs (those that don’t change their vowel in the past tense), use the ending -t.
spielen / spielte → gespielt
play / played → (have) played
Irregular verbs (with a vowel that changes in the past tense) use the ending -en.
gehen / ging → gegangen
go / went → gone
While a lot of past participles start with ge- many do not. Usually you will not add ge- to verbs in the following categories:
Verbs with an inseparable prefix, e.g. ver-, er-, zer-, be-:
Ich habe das nicht verstanden.Wir haben die Kosten berechnet. | I did not understand that. We have calculated the cost. |
Verbs with the suffix -ieren:
Was hast du studiert?Er hat eine Stunde telefoniert! | What did you study? He talked on the phone for one hour! |
Verbs derived from verbs that fit the descriptions above:
Hast du die Kosten einberechnet?Sie hat nicht weiterstudiert. | Did you take into account the cost? She did not continue her studies. |
In a simple German sentence in the perfect tense, the auxiliary verb (haben/sein) comes in second position, while the past participle comes at the end of the sentence.
Der Mann hat gestern seine Ehefrau zweimal geküsst.
The man kissed his wife twice yesterday.
This means that the perfect tense follows the standard word order rules in German. Like other tenses, you’ll need to remember two other rules:
In questions, haben/sein is at the beginning, and the participle is at the end.
Hat der Mann gestern seine Ehefrau zweimal geküsst?
Did the man kiss his wife twice yesterday?
In a subordinate clause, haben/sein is at the very end, and the participle immediately precedes it.
Ich weiß nicht, ob der Mann gestern seine Ehefrau zweimal geküsst hat.
I don’t know if the man kissed his wife twice yesterday.
Now you are well equipped with all the information surrounding the perfect tense, and you can start speaking perfect German like a native! Let’s see what we’ve covered today:
In the spoken language, use the perfect tense for past actions except with modal verbs and very few others.
In the written language, especially formal writing, don’t use the perfect tense too often.
The perfect tense in German is formed with one of the auxiliary verbs haben or sein: Use haben for the majority of verbs, and sein only for those indicating change of location, change of state, or happenings.
The second part of the perfect tense is the past participle, whose shape is ge…t or ge…en, or without the prefix ge-, depending on the verb and its other prefixes.
Ready to practice? Check out our German perfect tense activities! Or, if you’d rather study, have a look at the list of verbs that use haben vs. sein! Happy learning!
