1. The Conversational Past Tense

2. Helping Verbs
When talking about past events, you use the conversational past tense.
It consists of the present tense forms of haben and sein and a form of the verb called the past participle.

3. Helping Verbs sein – to be
Verbs that use sein as their helping verb fall into one of three categories:
Movement – Any verb expressing movement from one place to another
bleiben (to stay) – Past Participle  geblieben
sein (to be) – Past Participle  gewesen

4. Helping Verbs haben – to have
Verbs that use haben as their helping verb fall into one category:
Everything Else
The verb haben (to have) also falls into this category.
haben (to have) – Past Participle  gehabt

5. Helping Verbs Examples! Ich habe meine Tante besucht.
Ich bin um den See gegangen.

6. Past Participle Prefix
Most Past Participles have the prefix ge-:
gemacht
gelesen
gespielt
gesehen
gearbeitet
gefahren

7. Weak Verbs
The Past Participle of so-called regular or weak verbs end in t:
Regular verbs are verbs that take the regular form of conjugation.
ich: -e wir: -en
du: -st ihr: -t
er/sie/es: -t Sie/sie: -en
MOST weak verbs (not all) will be regular verbs.

8. Weak Verbs Formula: Add the prefix ge to the beginning of the verb.
Since these verbs are weak, we can easily break them. So, break of the ending of the verb (-en/-n) and put a –t back in place of the original ending.
machen (to do)
gemachen
gemacht

9. Strong Verbs
The Past Participle of so-called irregular or strong verbs end in –en (the infinitive):
Irregular verbs are verbs that take a spelling change when they are conjugated.
Example: lesen (to read)  The du and er/sie/es forms add an i to the conjugation.
Most strong verbs (not all) will be irregular verbs.

10. Strong Verbs Formula: Add the prefix ge- to the beginning of the verb.
Since these verbs are strong, they cannot be broken. Therefore, we do not change the ending.
lesen (to read)
gelesen

11. -ieren Verbs
The Past Participles of verbs ending in –ieren do not have the prefix ge-:
These verbs will lose their –en ending and will have a –t put back in place of the original ending.
polieren (to polish)  poliert
fotografieren (to photograph)  fotografiert
spazieren (to walk/stroll)  spaziert

12. Inseparable Prefix Verbs
The Past Participles of verbs that have an inseparable prefix do not add the prefix ge-:
These verbs will lose their –en ending and will have a –t put back in place of the original ending.
besuchen (to visit, as in a person)  besucht
besichtigen (to visit, as in a place)  besichtigt

13. Separable Prefix Verbs
The Past Participles of verbs that have a separable prefix keep the ge-.
These verbs are separated and the ge- is inserted between the prefix and the verb.
mitkommen (to come with)
mit – kommen
mit – ge – kommen
mitgekommen

14. Most Verbs . . . Most verbs in German are regular or weak.
Therefore, unless you have learned otherwise:
Form the Past Participle with –t
Form the Prefix with ge-
The Helping Verb is haben

15. Examples of Weak Verbs gearbeitet gefaulenzt gefilmt gehabt gehört
gekauft
gemacht
gemäht
geschenkt
gespielt
gewohnt
fotografiert
besucht
besichtigt

16. Examples of Strong Verbs
gegeben
gegessen
gelesen
gesehen
geholfen
getrunken

17. Examples of Verbs with Sein
ist gekommen
ist gefahren
ist gewandert
ist spaziert
ist gelaufen
ist gegangen
ist geschwommen
ist geblieben
ist gewesen

18. Other Information
Refer to pages R34-R36 in the back of your German textbook to see the verb chart.
All verbs that take sein as their Helping Verb will have ist in front of the verb.
If you cannot find the verb you are looking for in the back of your book, then assume that the verb is weak and that the Helping Verb is haben.

19. Works Cited!!!!!
Komm mit! 2, Pages 66 and 67