A1-47 · Talk about completed activities

Last weekend

Build the Perfekt with haben and a past participle when describing your weekend.

About 5 minutes to read · 12 quiz questions

Friends look at photos of a weekend cooking session and a board game on a kitchen table.

Build a past-tense sentence

In conversation, the Perfekt often describes completed actions. Use a present form of haben plus a past participle at the end: Ich habe gekocht. Regular participles often use ge- and -t.

Ich habe gekocht.

I cooked.

Mara hat Karten gespielt.

Mara played cards.

Wir haben eine Pause gemacht.

We took a break.

Ben hat gekocht.

Ben cooked.

Kochen becomes gekocht, spielen gespielt and machen gemacht. The haben form changes with the subject; the participle does not.

An adult unpacks groceries after shopping while a friend tidies the room.

Keep separable verbs together

With a separable verb, ge goes between the prefix and stem: einkaufen → eingekauft, aufräumen → aufgeräumt. The whole participle stays at the end.

Ich habe eingekauft.

I went shopping.

Mara hat das Zimmer aufgeräumt.

Mara tidied the room.

Wir haben eingekauft.

We went shopping.

Hast du das Zimmer aufgeräumt?

Did you tidy the room?

Compare present Ich kaufe ein with past Ich habe eingekauft. The participle no longer splits around the sentence.

A person remembers reading a book, watching a film and calling a friend over the weekend.

Learn common special participles

Some participles are irregular: sehen → gesehen, lesen → gelesen. Verbs ending in -ieren usually have no ge-: telefonieren → telefoniert.

Ich habe einen Film gesehen.

I watched a film.

Mara hat ein Buch gelesen.

Mara read a book.

Ben hat telefoniert.

Ben made a phone call.

Am Samstag habe ich gelesen.

On Saturday I read.

Put the finite verb second even after a time phrase: Am Samstag habe ich gelesen. These verbs all use haben in this lesson.

Ready to try it?

Check what you remember with 12 short questions.