How do I start talking about the past in German?
Start with the Perfekt: a present-tense form of haben or sein plus a past participle. Together, those parts express the past. Learn each new verb with its participle and helper. You can use this construction with a finished time such as gestern.
Gestern hat Nora gekocht.
Nora cooked yesterday.
How do regular participles work?
For simple regular verbs here, put ge- before the stem and -t after it: lernen → gelernt. A stem ending in t or d takes -et, as in arbeiten → gearbeitet. These patterns do not predict every verb.
Ben hat gestern gearbeitet. Nora hat Deutsch gelernt.
Ben worked yesterday. Nora studied German.
Where do the two verb parts go?
In a short statement, the helper follows the first phrase; the participle closes the clause. For a yes/no question, start with the helper. In a question with a question word, that word comes first. Longer clauses can place material after the verb bracket.
Heute hat Ben gekocht. Hat Ben heute gekocht? Was hat Ben gekocht?
Ben cooked today. Did Ben cook today? What did Ben cook?
When do I use haben or sein?
Learn pairs: hat gelesen, ist gekommen, ist geblieben. A change of place explains many uses of sein, but staying also uses it. Movement alone is not a rule for every verb. Match the helper to the subject; keep the participle unchanged.
Nora ist gekommen. Ben ist zu Hause geblieben.
Nora came. Ben stayed at home.
Why eingekauft, but besucht and studiert?
A separable prefix precedes ge: ein-ge-kauft, written as one word. An unstressed inseparable prefix such as be- takes no added ge-: besucht. The verb-forming suffix -ieren also takes no ge-: studiert. The ending still depends on the verb family.
Ben hat eingekauft. Nora hat Ben besucht.
Ben went shopping. Nora visited Ben.
Can I mix war or hatte with the Perfekt?
Yes. The short past forms war and hatte are common in conversation. They can appear alongside Perfekt sentences. This is not a strict division between states and actions: tense choice also depends on the verb, context and regional usage. Ist gewesen and hat gehabt are also valid forms.
Nora war müde und hat geschlafen.
Nora was tired and slept.
What changes after deshalb?
Initial deshalb occupies the first position in the next clause, so the conjugated verb follows before the subject. Und joins information without occupying that position.
Ben war müde, deshalb ist er nach Hause gegangen.
Ben was tired, so he went home.
Practise in three manageable blocks
Follow the A1 sequence with explanations, controlled exercises, independent block checks and spaced review. These later A1 blocks require course access or an eligible seven-day trial. The first 10 blocks of each language stay free.
Build on the basics
Review present forms of sein and haben, separable verbs and connecting main clauses. Broader written narration belongs to the later narrative past block.
Sources and scope
Original explanations and examples informed by IDS grammis on Perfekt, participle formation and German tense constructions. This guide introduces common patterns, not every past-tense construction or regional variant.