Use the perfect tense in German when you want to say…

I did something

Ich habe etwas gemacht

…or…

I have done something

Ich habe etwas gemacht

For example;

I played tennis.

Ich habe Tennis gespielt.

…or…

I have played tennis.

Ich habe Tennis gespielt.

It is used mainly in speech or...

in colloquial (informal) written passages.

Which is the correct translation?

Ich habe am Wochenende Hockey gespielt.

I played hockey at the weekend.

I have at the weekend hockey played.

I like to play hockey.

(click on the box next to the correct answer)

Which is the correct translation?

Wann hat das Spiel begonnen?

When began the game?

When did the game start?

When has the game begun?

Which is the correct translation?

Ich habe darüber nachgedacht.

I thought about it.

I have thought about it.

I have over it thought.

(there are two possible correct answers)

There are...

main factors which affect verbs in the perfect tense.

There are...

1) WEAK VERBS

2) STRONG VERBS

3) IRREGULAR (sometimes called ‘mixed’) VERBS

and...

4) Two auxiliary (helping) verbs

and

To form the perfect tense, ALL verbs need...

1) a past participle (e.g. gemacht, gespielt)

2) an auxiliary (helping) verb (e.g. haben or sein).

AND

parts...

WEAK VERBS

To get the past participle of weak verbs do this:

• get the infinitive e.g. machen• take the ‘-en’ off the end and add ‘-t’

• add ‘ge-’ to the front

macht

gemacht

WEAK VERBS

• now use the present tense of the auxiliary

(helping) verb - this is usually BUT NOT

ALWAYS ‘haben’ e.g.

ich habe gemacht du hast gemacht

er hat gespielt wir haben gespielt

ihr habt gelacht sie haben gelacht

WEAK VERBS

Now click on the link to practice unscrambling these weak past participles. It’s not always as easy as it looks!

http://www.quia.com/jw/5297.html

STRONG VERBS

• STRONG verbs OFTEN have the POWER to change the VOWEL in the perfect tense.

helfen - es hat geholfen

springen - sie ist gesprungen

• Strong verb past participles take ‘-en’ instead of ‘-t’ at the end e.g.

To get the past participle of strong verbs remember:

STRONG VERBS

Using your verb tables to help if you need to, practice your strong verb knowledge by clicking on the document below:

BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY

BEFORE YOU START!

IRREGULAR (or mixed) VERBS

Some irregular STRONG verbs take the weak verb ending in the perfect tense:

denken - ich habe gedacht

Some irregular WEAK verbs change their vowel and sometimes consonant in the perfect tense:

bringen - er hat es gebracht

IRREGULAR (or mixed) VERBS

YOU JUST HAVE TO LEARN

THEM AS YOU GO ALONG!!

As this is quite confusing, there is only really one way of getting to know them properly…

(sorry!)

Using your verb tables to help if you need to, practice your knowledge by clicking on the document below:

BE SURE TO FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY

BEFORE YOU START!

IRREGULAR (or mixed) VERBS

OR

There are some GENERAL rules which can

help you decide whether your verb will take...

OR

...as its auxiliary.

OR

MOST verbs take HABEN as their auxiliary.

Verbs which take SEIN include;

ich bin gefahren

b) VERBS EXPRESSING A CHANGE IN STATE;

ich bin gewachsen ich bin alt geworden

a) VERBS OF MOTION;

AND...

(I grew/have grown) (I became/have become old)

OR

c) the following TWO verbs;

bleiben - ich bin geblieben

sein - ich bin gewesen

OR

http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/modlang/webgerman/

Using your verb tables to help you if you need to, test your knowledge by

clicking on the link below:

OR

As you should now be an expert on the perfect tense, click on the link to test yourself, this time without your

verb tables!

http://german.tqn.com/library/weekly/aa032999b.htm

GUT GEMACHT!!!!!

END OF SHOW

OR