Present Perfect Tense Conversational Past

Formation of the Past Tense Construction = haben/sein as helping verb + past participle of the verb haben/sein must be conjugated to agree with the subject of the sentence the past participle remains in the last position of the clause

Helping Verbs haben or sein? For most verbs, you will use haben as your helping verb: ich habe wir haben du hast ihr habt er/sie/es hat sie/Sie haben

The helping verb sein Sein is used as the helping verb for verbs of motion (from point A to point B) or change of condition (falling asleep, growing up). ich bin wir sind du bist ihr seid er/sie/es ist sie/Sie sind EXCEPTIONS: the verbs “sein”, “bleiben”, and “werden” require sein as the helping verb.

Past Participles The formation of the past participle depends on the verb. Just as in English, there are weak and strong verbs, which affect the past participle. Weak = to jump have jumped Strong = to go have gone

Past Participles of Weak Verbs The past participle is formed by adding “t” to the verb stem. If the verb stem ends in “d” or “t”, the ending expands to “et”. The past participle of most weak verbs has the prefix “ge-”. spielen gespielt Sie hat gespielt. arbeiten gearbeitet Er hat gearbeitet.

Past Participle of Strong Verbs Strong verbs are verbs that have a vowel change, just like in English: drink, drank, drunk. Past participles of strong verbs are formed by adding “en” the verb stem. Most will also add the prefix “ge-”. Unfortunately the spelling change is not predictable. sprechen gesprochen Hast du mit ihr gesprochen?

More Strong Verbs schreiben geschrieben Er hat das geschrieben. fahren gefahren Jan ist allein gefahren. gehen gegangen Wohin bist du gegangen?

Verbs with separable prefixes The past participles of these verbs are formed the same way, but the “ge-” comes between the verb and the prefix. einkaufen Ich habe eingekauft. mitkommen Sabine ist mitgekommen. anziehen Was hast du angezogen?

Verbs with inseparable prefixes These verbs do not take the “ge-” prefix in the past participle. besuchen Ich habe Freunde besucht. verstehen Er hat das nicht verstanden. Common inseparable prefixes include: be-, emp-, ent-, er-, ge-, ver-, zer-

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