German conjugation explanation
Past participle formation

Practice conjugations

<p>The formation of the German past participle (<span style="font-style: italic;">Partizip Perfekt</span>) depends on whether it's a weak, strong or mixed verb. Let's have a look at these cases.</p>

<div class="conjugation_explanation_title">Weak and mixed verbs</div>

<p>The vowels in the stem of weak (or regular) verbs stay the same in all tenses. To form their past participle, we have to <strong>add ge- to the beginning</strong> of the verb and <strong>replace the ending with -t</strong>:</p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">spielen → <span class="in_word_highlight">ge</span>spiel<span class="in_word_highlight">t</span></p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">arbeiten → <span class="in_word_highlight">ge</span>arbeite<span class="in_word_highlight">t</span></p>

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<p>Weak verbs <strong>ending in -ieren</strong> are exceptions to this rule. The <strong>ge- prefix does not appear</strong> in their past participle form:</p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">studieren → studier<span class="in_word_highlight">t</span></p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">passieren → passier<span class="in_word_highlight">t</span></p>

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<p><strong>Mixed verbs</strong> are weak verbs with irregular conjugation. They will often have irregular past participle forms as well. However, <strong>the ge- at the beginning and the -t at the end are always present</strong>:</p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">bringen → gebracht</p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">denken → gedacht</p>

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<div class="conjugation_explanation_title">Strong verbs</div>

<p>The vowels in the stem of these verbs change in one or more tenses (e.g. s<span class="in_word_highlight">e</span>hen [to see]; er s<span class="in_word_highlight">ie</span>ht [he sees]; er s<span class="in_word_highlight">a</span>h [he saw]). The past participle form of these verbs ends in <strong>-en instead of -t</strong>:</p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">sehen → <span class="in_word_highlight">ge</span>seh<span class="in_word_highlight">en</span></p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">kommen → <span class="in_word_highlight">ge</span>komm<span class="in_word_highlight">en</span></p>

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<p>However, the vowel in the stem changes for many strong verbs:</p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">finden → gef<span class="in_word_highlight">u</span>nden</p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">bleiben → gebl<span class="in_word_highlight">ie</span>ben</p>

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<p>Some strong verbs have completely irregular past participles:</p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">gehen → gegangen</p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">stehen → gestanden</p>

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<div class="conjugation_explanation_title">Verbs with prefixes</div>

<p>In the past participle form of <strong>verbs with inseparable prefixes, the prefix of the verb replaces the ge-</strong>:</p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">besuchen → <span class="in_word_highlight">be</span>sucht</p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">verstehen → <span class="in_word_highlight">ver</span>standen</p>

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<p>For <strong>verbs with separable prefixes, the -ge- is inserted after the prefix</strong> of the verb:</p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">ankommen → an<span class="in_word_highlight">ge</span>kommen</p>

<p style="font-style: italic;">vorschlagen → vor<span class="in_word_highlight">ge</span>schlagen</p>

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German conjugation explanation Past participle formation

German conjugation explanation
Past participle formation