1. The Perfect Tense The German Perfect makes perfect German!

2. What is the perfect tense? The perfect tense is used to express something that has already happened. For example: I relax in my bedroom -> Ich chille in meinem Schlafzimmer. I relaxed in my bedroom -> Ich habe in meinem Schlafzimmer gechillt.

3. When do we use it? You use it to express something in the past (i.e. something that is no longer happening).

4. How do you form it? To form the perfect tense in German, you need an auxiliary verb (not an artillery verb Sammy!). In German these are ‘haben’ and ‘sein’ (to have and to be respectively).

5. IDEWIS Person‘haben’to have‘sein’to be ichhabeI havebinI am duhastyou havebistyou are er/sie/es/man/werhathe/she/it/one/who hasisthe/she/it/one/who is wirhabenwe havesindwe are ihrhabtyou lot haveseidyou lot are s/Siehabenthey/you havesindthey/you are

6. Which one do we use? Normally you use ‘haben’ with a verb that does not require movement (i.e. ‘to see’ -> do you move to a different place when you’re seeing something? No). You use ‘sein’ with a verb that does require movement from A to B (i.e. ‘to go’ -> you move from one place to another when you go somewhere).

7. Where do the verbs at the side go? habensein verbringen (to spend time) fahren (to travel) sehen (to see) fliegen (to fly) wohnen (to live somewhere) studieren (to study) laufen (to run) kommen (to come) gehen (to go) haben (to have) geschehen (to happen)

8. Exceptions ‘sein’ is one exception. You’d think it goes with ‘haben’ as it has no movement. However, it actually goes with ‘sein’. Ich bin Bauer -> ich bin Bauer gewesen (geh-vay-zun). I am a farmer -> I have been a farmer.

9. Why do we have to have ‘haben’ or ‘sein’. It’s an evolutionary thing. Many languages have it. French, German, Dutch, Welsh, English, Irish, Romanian, Luxembourgish etc. We could say in English ‘I have had a dog and a guinea pig’ for example, however we normally now say ‘I had a dog and a guinea pig’. But we have an auxiliary verb.

10. Zum Beispiel ichhabeeinen Hund und ein Meerschweinchengehabt.Ihavea dog and a guinea pig.had

11. Another exception werden – to become -> ich bin ein Schmetterling geworden. (I became a butterfly).

12. Verstehst du?

13. Past Participle The second thing you need with the perfect tense is a past participle (a what?). This is the form of the infinitive, which the verb in its original form.

14. This is the verb infinitive. Firstly, we need to add a ‘ge-’ prefix (letters that go onto the front of word that don’t always mean anything on their own). Now we need to take the ‘-en’ ending off (or just the ‘n’ as in ‘sammeln’) and add a ‘-t’.

15. What do you think the past participles of these verbs would be? kochen – to cook glauben – to believe lieben – to love chillen – to chilax haben – to have

16. Next set of verbs Some verbs do not need to have a ‘-t’ on the end in the perfect tense, and so keep the ‘-en’ suffix. essen – to eat – gegessen. sehen – to see – gesehen. lesen – to read – gelesen.

17. And some more… Some verbs have vowel changes in them in the perfect tense. Using http://www.verbix.com/languages/german.shtml, find out the past participles of these verbs: http://www.verbix.com/languages/german.shtml nennen – to name finden – to find lügen – to lie geben – to give helfen – to help sein – to be* EXTENSION: do they go with haben or sein?

18. Write these sentences in the perfect tense: EnglishGerman PresentGerman Perfect I am a farmerIch bin Bauer I live in TotnesIch wohne in Totnes I run to the train stationIch laufe zu den Bahnhof My school is called KEVICCMeine Schule heißt KEVICC I’m becoming a butterflyIch werde Schmetterling You have blonde hairIhr habt blonde Haare