The present perfect is a verb tense that can be used to express the past. Unlike the simple past tense, the perfect tense is often used in spoken German.
The present perfect is formed using the helping verbs "sein" or "haben" and the past participle. The helping verbs are conjugated in the present tense while the past participle remains unchanged.
Examples:
Ich habe getanzt.
Was haben Sie mit Julia gemacht?
Toll, sie hat es gemacht!
Past participles
The past participle is part of a verb form used to create compound tenses. The past participles of regular verbs always end with "t". Most of them also begin with the prefix "ge". So,
ge- + verb stem + -t
| Verb | Past participle | |
| machen | gemacht | |
| tanzen | getanzt | |
| lernen | gelernt |
Sentence structure for the perfect
In German, the perfect tense combines two parts - the conjugated form of the helping verbs "sein" or "haben" and the past participle. In a main clause, the helping verb is placed in the second position and the past participle comes at the end of the sentence:
Example:
Ich habe zuerst einen Kaffee gemacht.