The present perfect tense is formed by using one of three types of past participles: weak (regular), strong (irregular), and mixed. This past tense form is often referred to as the “conversational past” since it is most often used in spoken German when speaking about events in the past.
German Present Perfect Regular Verbs
The present perfect is generally used in spoken language to express something that happened in the past. The preterite tense is used the same way, but mainly in written texts such as stories, fairy tales, newspapers, books and literature in general.
Perfekt mit haben (-t ending)
haben + ge + main part of the verb + t
| Infinitiv | lernen | leben | machen | kritisieren |
| Präsens | Ich lerne | Du lebst | Er macht | Ihr kritisiert |
| Perfekt | Ich habe gelernt | Du hast gelebt | Er hat gemacht | Ihr habt kritisiert |
Example: Ich habe zwei Jahre in Berlin gelebt. Ich habe letztes Jahr Spanisch gelernt.
I lived in Berlin for two years. I learned Spanish last year.
(literally: I have lived in Berlin for two years. I have learned Spanish last year.)
Weak (aka Regular) Verbs with ‘haben’
Verbs ending with ‘-ieren’
