German Present Perfect - Regular Verbs
Overview
The German present perfect tense with regular verbs is formed by using weak (regular) verbs. 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 1 Old man remembering past events with photos](https://www.corelanguages.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/old-man-remembering-past-events-with-photos.jpg)
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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 | wollen | kritisieren |
Präsens | Ich lerne | Du lebst | Er will | Ihr kritisiert |
Perfekt | Ich habe gelernt | Du hast gelebt | Er hat gewollt | 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’
![German Present Perfect - Regular Verbs 2 pres perfschwachhaben 1 1 jpg](https://corelanguages8.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/pres-perfschwachhaben-1-1-jpg.jpg)
Verbs ending with ‘-ieren’
![German Present Perfect - Regular Verbs 3 pres perfverbenmit ieren 1 1 jpg](https://corelanguages8.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/pres-perfverbenmit-ieren-1-1-jpg.jpg)
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Additional Topics
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
The CEFR is an international standard used to describe language ability. Here are specific details of the CEFR for this topic.