Master Past Tenses in German: Perfekt vs. Präteritum (A1 Level)

Master the Past Tense in German: Perfekt vs. Präteritum (A1 Level)

Welcome back to Easy German With Abid! If you are learning German at the A1 level, you will soon realize that talking about the past is very important. Whether you want to tell your friends about your weekend or write a story, you need the past tense.

In English, we have many past tenses, but in German, you mainly need to focus on two: Das Perfekt (The Present Perfect) and Das Präteritum (The Simple Past).

In this complete guide, I will explain exactly how to build these tenses, when to use them, and the rules you must never forget. Let's make German grammar easy!

1. The Golden Rule: When to Use Which?

Before we learn how to build these tenses, you must know when to use them. This is the biggest secret to speaking natural German:

• Das Perfekt: This is the Spoken Past. When you are talking to your friends, family, or colleagues about things that happened in the past, you will use the Perfekt tense 95% of the time.

• Das Präteritum: This is the Written Past. You will see this tense in books, newspapers, formal emails, and news reports. People do not usually use it in daily speaking (with a few big exceptions that we will discuss later!).

2. Das Perfekt (The Spoken Past Tense)

Because you will use this tense every day to speak, let's learn it first.

How to Build the Perfekt Tense

To make a sentence in the Perfekt tense, you always need two parts:Rule: Helper Verb (haben OR sein) + Past Participle (Partizip II)

The helper verb is placed in position 2 of the sentence, and the Past Participle goes to the very end of the sentence.Example: Ich habe gestern eine Pizza gegessen. (I ate a pizza yesterday).

Part 1: When to use 'haben' and when to use 'sein'?

You must choose either the verb haben (to have) or sein (to be) as your helper verb.

• Use SEIN when: The verb shows a movement from point A to point B (like going, driving, flying) OR a change of state (like waking up, dying).

  • Examples: Sein (to be) | Werden (to become) | Reisen (to travel) | Umziehen (to move / to shift) | Gehen (to go) | Fahren (to go far) | Fliegen (to fly) | Bleiben (to stay) | Aufwachen (to wake up) | Schwimmen (to swim) | Reiten (to ride) | Aufsteigen (to climb) | Zusammenstossen (to collide) | Fallen (to fall) | Stürzen (to fall) | Aufstehen (to get up/ to stand up) | Sterben (to die) | Passieren (to happen) | Kommen (to come).

  • Exceptions for 'sein': The verbs bleiben (to stay), sein (to be), and passieren (to happen) also always take sein.

• Use HABEN when: For almost all other verbs! If there is no movement from A to B, use haben.

  • Examples: essen (to eat), trinken (to drink), machen (to do/make), spielen (to play).

Part 2: How to build the Past Participle (Partizip II)

The Past Participle goes at the end of the sentence. Here is how you create it:

1. Regular Verbs (Weak Verbs): Rule: ge + verb stem + t

• machen (to make) ➔ gemacht (Ich habe gemacht)

• kaufen (to buy) ➔ gekauft (Ich habe gekauft)

2. Irregular Verbs (Strong Verbs): Rule: ge + verb stem (sometimes changed) + en (You have to memorize these!)

• essen (to eat) ➔ gegessen (Ich habe gegessen)

• trinken (to drink) ➔ getrunken (Ich habe getrunken)

3. Verbs with Separable Prefixes (Trennbare Verben): Rule: The ge goes in the middle!

• einkaufen (to shop) ➔ eingekauft (Ich habe eingekauft)

• aufstehen (to get up) ➔ aufgestanden (Ich bin aufgestanden - Notice we use 'sein' here because getting up is a movement!)

4. Verbs ending in "-ieren": Rule: No "ge" at the beginning. Just add t at the end.

• studieren (to study) ➔ studiert (Ich habe studiert)

• fotografieren (to photograph) ➔ fotografiert (Ich habe fotografiert)

5. Verbs with Inseparable Prefixes: Verbs starting with be-, emp-, ent-, er-, ge-, ver-, zer- do not take a "ge".

• verstehen (to understand) ➔ verstanden (Ich habe verstanden)

• besuchen (to visit) ➔ besucht (Ich habe besucht)

3. Das Präteritum (The Simple Past)

As we learned, the Präteritum is mostly used for writing stories or reading the news.

The Big Exception for A1 Students!

Even though Germans use the Perfekt for speaking, there are three types of verbs that are always used in the Präteritum even when talking! These are:

1. sein (to be) ➔ war (was/were)

2. haben (to have) ➔ hatte (had)

3. Modal Verbs (können, müssen, wollen, dürfen, sollen, mögen)

Instead of saying "Ich bin krank gewesen" (Perfekt), Germans simply say "Ich war krank" (I was sick). It is much easier!

How to Conjugate "sein" and "haben" in Präteritum

You must memorize these tables for your A1 exam:

SEIN (to be) ➔ WAR (was/were)

• Ich war (I was)

• Du warst (You were)

• Er/sie/es war (He/she/it was)

• Wir waren (We were)

• Ihr wart (You all were)

• Sie/sie waren (You formal / They were)

HABEN (to have) ➔ HATTE (had)

• Ich hatte (I had)

• Du hattest (You had)

• Er/sie/es hatte (He/she/it had)

• Wir hatten (We had)

• Ihr hattet (You all had)

• Sie/sie hatten (You formal / They had)

How to Build Präteritum for Other Verbs (For Writing)

If you are reading a book, you will see other verbs in the Präteritum.

• Regular Verbs: Add a -te to the stem.

  • machen ➔ ich machte, du machtest, er machte, wir machten...

• Irregular Verbs: The whole vowel changes. (You must memorize these).

  • gehen (to go) ➔ ich ging, du gingst, er ging...

  • kommen (to come) ➔ ich kam, du kamst, er kam...

4. Quick Summary

• If you are speaking to someone, use the Perfekt tense ("Ich habe gestern Fußball gespielt").

• If you are reading a book, you will see the Präteritum tense ("Er spielte gestern Fußball").

• If you want to say "I was" or "I had", always use the Präteritum ("Ich war müde" or "Ich hatte ein Auto"), even when speaking!

I hope this guide makes your journey to studying the German language a lot easier! Grammar can be tricky, but with practice, it becomes natural. If you found this information helpful and valuable, please leave a comment below to let me know.

Abid Hanjra

Founder, Easy German With Abid