Talk about completed events using an auxiliary and a past participle.
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What you will learn
Talk about completed events using an auxiliary and a past participle.
The perfect tense with haben and sein
The perfect is common in spoken accounts of the past. Conjugate haben or sein to agree with the subject and put the past participle at the end of the main clause: Ich habe Deutsch gelernt. The auxiliary stays in second position after a time expression.
Many verbs take haben: lernen → gelernt, machen → gemacht, essen → gegessen. Simple regular verbs often form the participle with ge-, the stem and -t. Learn irregular forms individually. Verbs ending in -ieren do not take ge-, as in studiert.
Use sein with common verbs describing the subject moving to another place, such as gehen, kommen and fahren in these examples, or a change of state such as aufwachen. Bleiben and sein also take sein: ist gegangen, ist geblieben, ist gewesen.
Rule summary
Form
Use
haben + Partizip II
lernen, machen, essen
sein + Partizip II
gehen, kommen, bleiben
Examples
Ich habe gestern gelernt.
Meaning
I studied yesterday.
Wir sind nach Berlin gefahren.
Meaning
We travelled to Berlin.
Mia ist früh aufgewacht.
Meaning
Mia woke up early.
Er hat in Bonn studiert.
Meaning
He studied at university in Bonn.
Lesson exercises
A2 · 10
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Exercise 1 / 10
Choose the answer that fits the context.
Ich ___ Deutsch gelernt.
Correct answer ✓Incorrect answer
Correct answer: habe
Why? Haben becomes habe with ich.
Exercise 2 / 10
Choose the answer that fits the context.
Wir ___ nach Berlin gefahren.
Correct answer ✓Incorrect answer
Correct answer: sind
Why? Fahren to a destination takes sein here; wir takes sind.
Exercise 3 / 10
Choose the answer that fits the context.
Mia hat die Hausaufgaben ___. (machen)
Correct answer ✓Incorrect answer
Correct answer: gemacht
Why? The past participle of machen is gemacht.
Exercise 4 / 10
Choose the answer that fits the context.
Tom ___ zu Hause geblieben.
Correct answer ✓Incorrect answer
Correct answer: ist
Why? Bleiben takes sein; Tom takes ist.
Exercise 5 / 10
Choose the answer that fits the context.
Du ___ Brot gegessen.
Correct answer ✓Incorrect answer
Correct answer: hast
Why? Essen takes haben; du takes hast.
Exercise 6 / 10
Choose the answer that fits the context.
Gestern / ich / lernen → Perfekt
Correct answer ✓Incorrect answer
Correct answer: Gestern habe ich gelernt.
Why? Habe and ich follow Gestern; gelernt goes last.
Exercise 7 / 10
Choose the answer that fits the context.
Er hat in Bonn ___. (studieren)
Correct answer ✓Incorrect answer
Correct answer: studiert
Why? This -ieren verb takes no ge-: studiert.
Exercise 8 / 10
Choose the answer that fits the context.
Ihr ___ spät gekommen.
Correct answer ✓Incorrect answer
Correct answer: seid
Why? Kommen takes sein; ihr takes seid.
Exercise 9 / 10
Choose the answer that fits the context.
Wir sind zu Fuß nach Hause ___. (gehen)
Correct answer ✓Incorrect answer
Correct answer: gegangen
Why? Gehen to a destination takes sein and the participle gegangen.
Exercise 10 / 10
Choose the answer that fits the context.
Lena ___ früh aufgewacht.
Correct answer ✓Incorrect answer
Correct answer: ist
Why? Aufwachen marks a change of state and takes sein.
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Grammar references for further reading
Original A2 lessons, examples and exercises by WikiGerman. Study them in order or choose a topic to review.