Compound past tense

The compound past tense, sometimes called the conversational past, is used to refer to unconnected events, and is the most common past tense form in conversational German. It is formed with a helping verb (haben or sein) and the past participle of the main verb.

Ich habe ihn nicht gesehen.
Wir sind nach Berlin gefahren.
Haben Sie das Buch gekauft?
Das Wetter ist warm geworden.

I haven't seen him.
We travelled to Berlin.
Did you buy the book?
The weather has become warm.

Notice from the translations that this tense can correspond either to the simple or the compound past in English.

Past participle - regular verbs

Regular verbs form their past participle according to the following pattern: ge + stem + (e)t.

Ich habe das nicht gesagt.
Haben Sie viel gearbeitet?

I didn't say that.
Did you work a lot?

If the verb begins with an unaccented syllable the ge- prefix is not used.

Sie hat das schon erklärt. She has already explained that.

Past participle - regular verbs with altered stem

Some verbs form their past participles like a regular verb, but use the same altered stem as for the simple past: ge + altered stem + (e)t.

Er hat das schon gewusst.
Ich habe sie lange gekannt.
Hast du Wein gebracht?

He knew that already.
I have been acquainted with her for a long time.
Did you bring wine?

If the verb begins with an unaccented syllable the ge- prefix is not used.

Wir haben euch nicht erkannt.

We didn't recognize you.

The past participle forms for the regular verbs with altered stem may be found in the list of principal parts of verbs.

Past participle - modal auxiliary verbs

Modal auxiliary verbs form their past participle using the same stem as for the simple past: ge + stem without Umlaut + t.

Unsere Kinder haben das nie gedurft.

Our children were never permitted (to do) that.

This form of the past participle appears only when the modal auxiliary is used alone, which is infrequent.

More often, the modal is used in conjunction with another verb, and the past participle becomes part of a double infinitive construction.

Unsere Kinder haben nie fernsehen dürfen.

Our children were never permitted to watch television.

Past participle - irregular verbs

Irregular verbs form their past participles by using a verb stem unique to each verb

Wir haben den Film nicht gesehen.
Du bist sehr schnell gelaufen.

We haven't seen the film.
You ran very fast.

If the verb begins with an unaccented syllable the ge- prefix is not used.

Kurt hat gestern einen Brief bekommen.

Kurt received a letter yesterday.

The past participle forms for specific irregular verbs may be found in the list of principal parts of verbs.

sein as helping verb

Sein appears as the helping verb for any verb whose meaning designates a change of location,

if it does not have a direct object.
The same verb with a direct object uses haben as its helping verb.

1) Wir sind nach Frankfurt gefahren.
2) Wir haben das Auto nach Frankfurt gefahren

We drove to Frankfurt.
We drove the car to Frankfurt..

Sein also appears as the helping verb

for any verb whose meaning designates a process or development,
for two other verbs which fit neither category - sein and bleiben.

1) Wann ist das Wetter kalt geworden?
2) Er ist zu Hause geblieben.

When did the weather turn cold?
He stayed at home.

The verbs which use sein as a helping verb may be found in the list of principal parts of verbs.