CONTENT
  1. Past Participle with Strong Verbs
  2. Past Participle of Separable and Inseparable Verbs

To form the perfect tense for expressing the past, you need to learn a special verb form: the participle perfect (also called past participle) or Partizip II, or the third form of the verb.

Native

Translation

haben – hatte – gehabt

have - had - had

Participle Perfect with Weak Verbs

Rule 1: To form the Partizip II of weak verbs, we use the construction:

ge + verb stem + t:

Native

Translation

spielen ➝ gespielt

to play ➝ played

Rule 2: If the verb stem ends in -d or -t, we add an "e" for the pronunciation.

Native

Translation

warten ➝ gewartet

to wait ➝ waited

Past Participle with Strong Verbs

Rule 3: Many strong, or irregular verbs, follow the construction:

ge + verb stem + (e)n:

Native

Translation

fahren ➝ gefahren

to drive ➝ driven

Rule 4: Some strong verbs change the vowel (a, e, i, o, u) when forming the participle 2. These are mostly verbs that change the vowel in the present tense as well, such as:

Native

Translation

helfen - er hilft - geholfen

to help - he helps - helped

Rule 5: The double vowel "ei", will almost always change to "ie":

Native

Translation

schreiben - geschrieben

to write - written

Exception: Verbs Ending in -ieren

Rule 6: Verbs with the ending -ieren form the Partizip II (past participle) without "ge-". They follow the construction:

verb stem + t:

Native

Translation

studieren ➝ studiert

to study ➝ studied

Past Participle of Separable and Inseparable Verbs

Rule 7: To form the past participle of separable and inseparable verbs, the past participle of the main verb stays the same, but:

- with separable verbs, the "ge-" goes after the prefix. So we have the following construction:

prefix + ge + verb stem + -t/-en:

Native

Translation

aufmachen ➝ aufgemacht

to open ➝ opened

- inseparable verbs form their past participles without "ge-". So we have the following construction:

prefix + verb stem + -t/-en:

Native

Translation

besuchen ➝ besucht

to visit ➝ visited