{"id":3068,"date":"2011-12-16T14:30:26","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T14:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/?p=3068"},"modified":"2011-12-01T10:19:36","modified_gmt":"2011-12-01T10:19:36","slug":"german-tenses-in-use-perfekt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/german\/german-tenses-in-use-perfekt\/","title":{"rendered":"German tenses in use: Perfekt"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Perfekt<\/em><\/strong> is commonly used in spoken German to refer to the past.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Formation:<\/strong><\/p>\n

You generally form active sentences in the Perfekt<\/em> by using a conjugated form of the auxiliary verbs \u2018sein\u2019 (to be) or \u2018haben\u2019 (to have) and the past participle of the verb. Here are the conjugations of sein<\/em> and haben<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

sein = to be<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nSingular<\/strong><\/td>\nPlural<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1st<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\nich bin(I am)<\/td>\nwir sind(we are)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2nd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ndu bist \/ Sie sind(you are)<\/td>\nihr seid \/ Sie sind(you are)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3rd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ner\/sie\/es ist(he\/she\/it is)<\/td>\nsie sind(they are)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

haben = to have<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nSingular<\/strong><\/td>\nPlural<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1st<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\nich habe(I have)<\/td>\nwir haben(we have)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2nd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ndu hast \/ Sie haben(you have)<\/td>\nihr habt \/ Sie haben(you have)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3rd<\/sup> person<\/strong><\/td>\ner\/sie\/es hat(he\/she\/it has)<\/td>\nsie haben(they have)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You usually use haben<\/em> when you do something to someone or something else and sein<\/em> when something happens to you, so to speak. Please note, that it HAPPENS to you, that does not mean that someone is doing something to you, which would result in a passive sentence!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Examples:<\/p>\n

Ich habe<\/strong> einen Kuchen gebacken<\/strong>. = I baked<\/strong> a cake. \/ I have<\/strong> baked<\/strong> a cake.<\/p>\n

Er hat<\/strong> einen Apfel gegessen<\/strong>. = He ate<\/strong> an apple. \/ He has<\/strong> eaten<\/strong> an apple.<\/p>\n

Wir haben<\/strong> ein Lied gesungen<\/strong>. = We sang<\/strong> a song. \/ We have<\/strong> sung<\/strong> a song.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These three examples show that you did something actively, thus, you have to use the auxiliary verb \u2018haben\u2019 (to have)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ich bin<\/strong> gewachsen<\/strong>. = I grew<\/strong>. \/ I have<\/strong> grown<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Er ist<\/strong> nach Berlin gefahren<\/strong>. = He went<\/strong> to Berlin (by car\/train). \/ He has<\/strong> gone<\/strong> to Berlin.<\/p>\n

Wir sind<\/strong> nach Deutschland geflogen<\/strong>. = We went<\/strong> to Germany (by plane).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These three examples show that something happened to you without somebody having done anything to you, thus, you have to use the auxiliary verb \u2018sein\u2019 (to be). To make my hypothesis clearer compare the following two sentences:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Er ist<\/strong> nach Hamburg gefahren<\/strong>. = He went<\/strong> to Hamburg.<\/p>\n

Er hat<\/strong> sie nach Habburg gefahren<\/strong>. = He drove<\/strong> her to Hamburg.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You see that the Perfekt<\/em> is used to expresses that an action took place in the past and is, thus, completed. The period between the action and the moment of speaking doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

Further, you may have discovered that the German Perfekt<\/em> tense is equivalent to the English past and present perfect tense. That is, in German we don\u2019t distinguish whether an action was completed in the past or has just been finished. Compare:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ich habe einen Brief geschrieben. = I wrote a letter. \/ I have written a letter.<\/p>\n

Ich habe Fernsehen geschaut. = I watched TV. \/ I have been watching TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Perfekt is commonly used in spoken German to refer to the past.   Formation: You generally form active sentences in the Perfekt by using a conjugated form of the auxiliary verbs \u2018sein\u2019 (to be) or \u2018haben\u2019 (to have) and the past participle of the verb. Here are the conjugations of sein and haben…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[95195,155],"class_list":["post-3068","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-language","tag-perfekt","tag-tense"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t