Lesson 1.1 — Was hast du gemacht? — The perfect tense with haben (German A2)

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Two colleagues in a Berlin office talk about yesterday evening.

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New vocabulary — tap to hear

gesternyesterday 🔊

ich habe gegessenI ate / I have eaten 🔊

ich habe gearbeitetI worked 🔊

ich habe gesehenI saw 🔊

der Filmthe film 🔊

die Arbeitthe work / job 🔊

Now say it

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« Ich habe einen Film gesehen und Pizza gegessen. » 🔊

I watched a film and ate pizza.

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Pronunciation

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Was hast du gestern Abend gemacht? 🔊What did you do yesterday evening?

Ich habe einen Film gesehen und Pizza gegessen. 🔊I watched a film and ate pizza.

Schön! Ich habe leider den ganzen Abend gearbeitet. 🔊Nice! Unfortunately I worked the whole evening.

Oh, du Armer. Hast du wenigstens etwas getrunken? 🔊Oh, you poor thing. Did you at least have something to drink?

Ja, ich habe drei Tassen Kaffee getrunken. 🔊Yes, I drank three cups of coffee.

Grammar in focus · das Perfekt with haben

The perfect tense is the normal way to talk about the past in spoken German. Use a form of haben (ich habe, du hast, er/sie hat, wir haben, ihr habt, sie haben) plus a past participle, which goes to the END of the clause: « Ich habe einen Film gesehen. » Regular (weak) verbs form the participle with ge- + stem + -t: machen → gemacht, arbeiten → gearbeitet. Strong verbs change the stem and end in -en: essen → gegessen, sehen → gesehen, trinken → getrunken. Verbs ending in -ieren have no ge-: studieren → studiert.

Write it yourself

Write three sentences about what you did yesterday, using the perfect tense with haben.

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Tip for this task
Gut! Remember the participle goes to the end: « Ich habe Kaffee getrunken. » Check that you used haben (not sein) for these activity verbs.

Quick check

An adaptive quiz confirms you've got it and schedules the right words for review.

1. Which auxiliary completes: « Ich ___ einen Film gesehen »?

2. The past participle of « essen » is…

3. Where does the participle go in a main clause?

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