1. The past tense
The past tense refers to events, which have already happened.
Examples in English are:
I have seen / I saw
I have eaten / I ate
I have done my homework / I did my homework
This is how to talk or write about the past in German.
Step 1
Decide who or what the sentence is about and choose the correct
part of haben.
ich habe
du hast
er /sie/ es hat
wir haben
sie haben
Step 2
Add a past participle. Look at the English examples. The
English past participles are done, eaten, seen. Most German past
participles start with a ge-.
Try to match the past participles to the infinitives.

2. Past Participles
English infinitive German infinitive German Past
Participle
to have haben
to see sehen
to do/make machen
to listen/hear hören
to play spielen
to read lesen
to dance tanzen
to watch TV fernsehen
to eat essen
to drink trinken
to telephone anrufen
gegessen gelesen angerufen gemacht
gesehen getanzt gehabt getrunken
gespielt ferngesehen gehört
(Continue to use the table to note down new past participles as you learn them.)

3. Step 3
Practise making a basic sentence:
I have seen - Ich habe gesehen
I have eaten – Ich habe gegessen
You have read – Du hast gesehen
I have drunken -
I have played -
You have watched TV -
She has had -
I have telephoned -
If you want to add any more information to your sentences this
has to go in the middle:
Ich habe ein Eis gegessen. – I have eaten an ice cream
Ich habe einen Film gesehen. – I have seen a film.

4. The Past Tense
Translate the following sentences. The help box will
give you the missing vocabulary, but you may need to look
the words up in a dictionary.
1. I have eaten candy floss.
2. I have watched a horror film.
3. I have read a novel.
4. I have heard music.
5. I have drunken milk.
6. I have played table tennis.
7. I have telephoned my granny.
Meine Oma Musik Zuckerwatter
Milch einen Roman Tischtennis
einen Horrorfilm

5. Past Participles with sein
A small group of verbs take part of sein instead of part of
haben. The only ones we need to remember at the moment are
gegangen – went and gefahren – travelled.
Ich bin
Du bist
Er/sie/es ist + gegangen (from gehen – to go)
Wir sind gefahren (from fahren – to travel)
Sie sind
Ich bin mit dem Bus gafahren – I travelled on the bus
Ich bin einkaufen gegangen – I went shopping.