Talking about the Past

Simple Past

The simple past tense is called the Imperfekt or Präteritum in German. This tense is used to indicate that an action was completed in the past.

This tense is used most often in the written language, such as novels and newspapers, and is used less often in the spoken language. The amount that this tense is used in the spoken language varies by region, and is used the least in in southern German speaking areas. The Präteritum form of some verbs however, such as sein, haben, wollen, and a few others, is very common in the spoken language and sometimes even required.

The following table shows the simple past tense for German regular verbs, which are also called weak verbs.

Sein (be)

The verb sein is irregular in the simple past tense, and is also often used, even in conversational German. The conjugation of sein is shown in the following table.

haben (have)

The verb haben is irregular in the simple past tense, and is also often used, even in conversational German. The following table shows the conjugation for the verb haben.

Present Perfect

The present perfect tense is called the Perfekt in German. An example is "Ich habe gespielt", which can mean "I have played", "I played", or "I used to play".

In conversational German the present perfect is often used instead of the simple past. This is especially true in southern German speaking areas.

The present perfect tense is formed by using the present tense of haben, along with the past participle of the verb. Verbs indicating motion, or change of state, use the past tense of sein instead of haben.

The past participle of regular verbs, also called weak verbs, is formed by adding the prefix ge to the verb and t to the end of the verb. In German the past participle goes at the end of a clause or simple sentence.

While the past participle for most verbs is created using the pattern above, some verbs form the past participle differently. These types of verbs also exist in English. For example, drink and freeze. In German these types of verbs are called strong verbs.

The following table shows the perfect tense for regular verbs.

Examples

Ich habe einen Fehler gemacht.	I have made a mistake.
Habe ich einen Fehler gemacht?	Have I made a mistake?
Ich habe keinen Fehler gemacht.	I haven't made a mistake.
Ich habe von diesem Haus geträumt.	I've dreamed about this house.
Habe ich von diesem Haus geträumt?	Have I dreamed about this house?
Ich habe nicht von diesem Haus geträumt?	I haven't dreamed about this house.
Ich bin nach Frankfurt gereist.	I've traveled to Franfurt.

Past Perfect

The past perfect tense is called the Plusquamperfekt in German. It is used to indicate that an action happened earlier than another action. An example is "Sie hatte gut gespielt, bis sie verletzt wurde", which means she had played well until she was injured.

The past perfect tense is formed by using the simple past tense of haben along with the past participle of the verb. Verbs indicating motion, or change of state, use the past tense of sein instead of haben.

As with the present perfect tense, the past participle goes at the end of a clause or simple sentence.

Examples

Sie hatte die Arbeit bereits beendet, bevor ich ihr helfen konnte.	She had already finished the work before I could help him.
Bis gestern hatte ich nichts zu ihm gesagt.	I hadn't said anything to him until yesterday.
Hatten Sie etwas über den Urlaub gesagt, bevor ich sie fragte, ob sie mitfahren wolle?	Had you said anything about the vacation, before I asked her if she wanted to go?

Strong Verbs

Many very common German verbs change the vowel in the root of the verb to make the simple past tense and the past participle. These verbs are called strong verbs. These verbs don't add te to the end of the verb in the simple past tense, and add en instead of t to the end of the verb to make the past participle.

Strong verbs are covered in the lesson Strong and Mixed Verbs. A list of common strong verbs can also be found in that lesson.