Gestern und heute Read these sentences below to see the difference in how to talk about things that you did yesterday.
Heute
Gestern
Ich spreche Deutsch.
Ich habe Deutsch gesprochen.
Ich spreche Englisch.
Ich habe Englisch. gesprochen.
Ich schwimme im Schwimmbad.
Ich bin im Schwimmbad geschwommen.
Du singst sehr schön.
Du hast sehr schön gesungen.
Du tanzst gut.
Du hast gut getanzt.
Sie kocht das Abendessen.
Sie hat das Abendessen gekocht.
Er besucht Berlin.
Er hat Berlin besucht.
Ihr benutzt einen Regenschirm.
Ihr habt einen Regenschirm benutzt.
Wir sprechen Spanisch.
Wir haben Spanisch gesprochen.
Wir lernen viel.
Wir haben viel gelernt.
Ihr reist nach Europa.
Ihr seid nach Europa gereist.
Sie essen viel.
Sie haben viel gegessen.
Sie hören Musik.
Sie haben Musik gehört.
This is called "das Perfekt" in German. Much like the present perfect in English, it is a "compound past" tense--it is composed of two parts. 1) a present tense form of the helping verb ("haben" or "sein") and 2) a past participle. It really is not too difficult.
First, let's review haben and sein:
haben--to have
ich habe
wir haben
du hast
ihr habt
er
sie hat
es
sie
Sie haben
sein = to be
ich
bin
wir
sind
du
bist
ihr
seid
er sie es
ist
sie Sie
sind
So, we will use one of those forms together with a past participle. The formation of the past participles follows specific patterns, depending on whether the verb is "weak" (sometimes called "regular") or "strong" (sometimes called "irregular"). Here's a mixture: see if you can notice some things about them.
kochen
gekocht
spielen
gespielt
schwimmen
geschwommen
sprechen
gesprochen
schreiben
geschrieben
tanzen
getanzt
reisen
gereist
How are your "detective skills"?
What do all the participles begin with? ge-
What are the two possible endings? -t or -en
Which of those endings goes with a stem that remains unchanged?-t
What happens to the stem with the other ending?vowel changes
Which group do you think is the "weak" ("regular") one?with a -t
So what do the participles of "strong" verbs end in?-en
That wasn't too hard, was it? Of course, there will be some more details, but the general rule for formation of participles can be stated thus:
Now, you're probably going to ask: "How do I know if a verb is weak or strong?" There is no 100% way to predict, so it's always wise to learn a verb with its participle. However, if a verb is irregular in English and has a German cognate, the cognate is probably also "irregular" ("strong"). Here are a few samples:
see - (have) seen sehen - gesehen
go-(have) gone gehen -- gegangen
give - (have) given geben - gegeben
fall -- (have) fallen fallen - gefallen
NOTE: Start now to make a list in your notebook of verbs and their participles. Then spend some time each day learning them.
Your next question will probably be: "How do you predict which verbs use "haben" and which use "sein" as the helping verb?" This answer is easier. First of all, MOST verbs use "haben." (Yeah!) Verbs that use "sein" need to meet two criteria: a) they can't have a direct object, and b) their meaning shows some kind of "change": of condition (like "grow, become, die") or location (directed movement from one place to another, like "go, swim, run").
This is, then, the way we talk about what we did yesterday. These forms are like saying any of the following: I spoke, I did speak, I was speaking. English has these three variations (which are very confusing for foreigners), but German just has one.
As we continue through the course, we'll be doing a lot of practice with das Perfekt!
Practice Click here to practice the activities that you like to. JigWord 2.
Schreibübung
Practice with these verbs, putting them in the das Perfekt.
Hörübung
Listen to the verbs and indicate if the verb is in the present or in the past. Mark the column that you think is correct ("Gegenwart" = present, and "Partizip" = past participle). Click on "listen" to listen again. Check your answers at the end.
Schreibübung
Prepare this assignment to turn in to your teacher. Put the sentences below in the in das Perfekt. All the participles you need are at the top of the page. Das ergibt 16 Punkte.
Hörübung 
Gestern und heute
Practice
Schreibübung 
Schreibübung