The Conversational Past Tense

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.

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

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

Helping Verbs

• Examples!

– Ich habe meine Tante besucht.

– Ich bin um den See gegangen.

Past Participle Prefix

• Most Past Participles have the prefix ge-:– gemacht– gelesen– gespielt– gesehen– gearbeitet– gefahren

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.

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

Strong Verbs

• The Past Participle of so-called irregular or strong verbs end in –en (the infinitive):

• Irregularr 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.

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

-ieren Verbs

• The Past Participles of verbs ending in –ieren do not have the prefix ge-:

• These verbs will lose there –en ending and will have a –t put back in place of the original ending.

• Fotografieren (to photograph) fotografiert• Spazieren (to walk/stroll) spaziert

Inseparable Prefix Verbs

• The Past Participles of verbs that have an inseparable prefix do not add the prefix ge-:

• These verbs will lose there –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

Inseparable Prefix Verbs

• There is one Inseparable Prefix Verb that will not take the –t ending when it is used in the Past Participle form.

• Gefallen (to please) – Past Participle: gefallen

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

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

Examples of Weak Verbs

• Gearbeitet• Gefaulenzt• Gefilmt• Gehabt• Gehört• Gekauft• Gemacht

• Gemäht• Geschenkt• Gespielt• Gewohnt• Fotografiert• Besucht• Besichtigt

Examples of Strong Verbs

• Gegeben• Gegessen• Gelesen• Gesehen• Geholfen• Getrunken

Examples of Verbs with Sein

• Ist gekommen• Ist gefahren

• Ist gewandert• Ist spaziert

• Ist gelaufen• Ist geblieben• Ist geschwommen• Ist gewesen• Ist gegangen

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.

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.

Works Cited!!!!!

• Komm mit! 2, Pages 66 and 67