German grammar › A2
Perfekt — spoken past
Level A2 · haben/sein + past participle — the past tense of everyday conversation
What is the Perfekt?
The Perfekt is the most common way to talk about finished past events in everyday spoken German. It covers both English “I worked” and “I have worked”.
When you use it
- Telling what you did: Ich habe gestern gearbeitet.
- Talking about experiences: Ich bin schon in Wien gewesen.
- Conversations, chats and messages.
Pattern
haben / sein + … + Partizip II
What changes
haben / sein changes with the person; the past participle stays the same at the end
Examples
- Ich **habe** Pizza **gegessen**. — I ate pizza.
- Wir **sind** nach Berlin **gefahren**. — We went to Berlin.
Remember: The helper shows that it’s past; the participle shows what happened.
Watch out: Separable verbs put ge- in the middle: aufgestanden, eingekauft.
Builds on: Sein & haben and Separable verbs.
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