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The Conversational Past Tense
Helping Verbs
• When talking about past events, you use the
conversational past tense.
• It consists of the present tense forms of haben
and sein and a form of the verb called the past
participle.
Helping Verbs
• Sein – to be
– Verbs that use sein as their helping verb fall into
one of three categories:
• Movement – Any verb expressing movement from one
place to another
• Bleiben (to stay) – Past Participle  geblieben
• Sein (to be) – Past Participle  gewesen
Helping Verbs
• Haben – to have
– Verbs that use haben as their helping verb fall into
one category:
• Everything Else
• The verb haben (to have) also falls into this category.
• Haben (to have) – Past Participle  gehabt
Helping Verbs
• Examples!
– Ich habe meine Tante besucht.
– Ich bin um den See gegangen.
Past Participle Prefix
• Most Past Participles have the prefix ge-:
– gemacht
– gelesen
– gespielt
– gesehen
– gearbeitet
– gefahren
Weak Verbs
• The Past Participle of so-called regular or weak
verbs end in t:
• Regular verbs are verbs that take the regular
form of conjugation.
– Ich: -e
– Du: -st
– Er/Sie/Es: -t
Wir: -en
Ihr: -t
Sie/sie: -en
• MOST weak verbs (not all) will be regular verbs.
Weak Verbs
• Formula:
– Add the prefix ge to the beginning of the verb.
– Since these verbs are weak, we can easily break
them. So, break of the ending of the verb (-en/-n)
and put a –t back in place of the original ending.
– Machen (to do)
• gemachen
• gemacht
Strong Verbs
• The Past Participle of so-called irregular or strong
verbs end in –en (the infinitive):
• Irregularr verbs are verbs that take a spelling
change when they are conjugated.
– Example: Lesen (to read)  The du and er/sie/es
forms add an I to the conjugation.
• Most strong verbs (not all) will be irregular verbs.
Strong Verbs
• Formula:
– Add the prefix ge- to the beginning of the verb.
– Since these verbs are strong, they cannot be
broken. Therefore, we do not change the ending.
– Lesen (to read)
• gelesen
-ieren Verbs
• The Past Participles of verbs ending in –ieren do
not have the prefix ge-:
• These verbs will lose there –en ending and will
have a –t put back in place of the original ending.
• Fotografieren (to photograph)  fotografiert
• Spazieren (to walk/stroll)  spaziert
Inseparable Prefix Verbs
• The Past Participles of verbs that have an
inseparable prefix do not add the prefix ge-:
• These verbs will lose there –en ending and will
have a –t put back in place of the original ending.
• Besuchen (to visit, as in a person)  besucht
• Besichtigen (to visit, as in a place)  besichtigt
Inseparable Prefix Verbs
• There is one Inseparable Prefix Verb that will
not take the –t ending when it is used in the
Past Participle form.
• Gefallen (to please) – Past Participle: gefallen
Separable Prefix Verbs
• The Past Participles of verbs that have a
separable prefix keep the ge-.
• These verbs are separated and the ge- is inserted
between the prefix and the verb.
• Mitkommen (to come with)
– mit – kommen
– mit – ge – kommen
– mitgekommen
Most Verbs . . .
• Most verbs in German are regular or weak.
• Therefore, unless you have learned otherwise:
– Form the Past Participle with –t
– Form the Prefix with ge– The Helping Verb is haben
Examples of Weak Verbs
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•
•
Gearbeitet
Gefaulenzt
Gefilmt
Gehabt
Gehört
Gekauft
Gemacht
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Gemäht
Geschenkt
Gespielt
Gewohnt
Fotografiert
Besucht
Besichtigt
Examples of Strong Verbs
•
•
•
•
•
•
Gegeben
Gegessen
Gelesen
Gesehen
Geholfen
Getrunken
Examples of Verbs with Sein
• Ist gekommen
• Ist gefahren
• Ist gewandert
• Ist spaziert
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•
•
•
•
Ist gelaufen
Ist geblieben
Ist geschwommen
Ist gewesen
Ist gegangen
Refer to pages R34-R36 in the back of your German textbook to
see the verb chart.
All verbs that take sein as their helping verb will have ist in front of
the verb.
If you cannot find the verb you are looking for in the back of your
Other Information
• Refer to pages R34-R36 in the back of your
German textbook to see the verb chart.
• All verbs that take sein as their Helping Verb will
have ist in front of the verb.
• If you cannot find the verb you are looking for in
the back of your book, then assume that the verb
is weak and that the Helping Verb is haben.
Works Cited!!!!!
• Komm mit! 2, Pages 66 and 67