German/Grammar/Verbs

Verbs

German verbs can be classified as weak or as strong. Weak verbs are very regular in their forms, whereas strong verbs change the stem vowel.

Weak:

kaufen, kaufte, gekauft

Strong:

singen, sang, gesungen

With its Anglo-Saxon origin, this notion is also present in English.

flip, flipped, flipped
sing, sang, sung

Some German verbs have weak and strong forms. This may depend on meaning:

Der Botschafter wurde nach Berlin gesandt.
Der Süddeutsche Rundfunk sendete ein Konzert aus dem Gasteig.

Or on transitive vs. intransitive use:

Das Hemd hing auf der Wäscheleine.
Sie hängte das Hemd auf die Wäscheleine.

Strong Verbs

Liste der starken und unregelmässigen Verben

	Infinitiv	Präteritum (Preterite)	Perfekt (Past Participle)
A	anfangen begin	fing an began	angefangen begun
	ankommen arrive	kam an arrived	ist angekommen arrived
	anrufen call up	rief an called up	angerufen called up
B	backen bake	backte baked	gebacken baked
	befehlen command	befahl commanded	befohlen commanded
	beginnen begin	begann began	begonnen begun
	beißen bite	biss bit	gebissen bitten
	bekommen get, receive	bekam got	bekommen gotten
	bergen salvage	barg salvaged	geborgen salvaged
	bersten burst	barst burst	geborsten burst
	betrügen deceive	betrog deceived	betrogen deceived
	biegen bend	bog bent	gebogen bent
	bieten offer	bot offered	geboten offered
	binden tie	band tied	gebunden tied
	bitten request	bat requested	gebeten requested
	blasen blow	blies blew	geblasen blown
	bleiben stay	blieb stayed	ist geblieben stayed
	bleichen bleach	blich bleached	geblichen bleached
	braten roast	briet roasted	gebraten roasted
	brechen break	brach broke	gebrochen broken
	brennen* burn	brannte burned	gebrannt burned
	bringen* bring	brachte brought	gebracht brought
C
D	denken** think↓ A "mixed" verb. Combination of strong + weak verbs.	dachte thought	gedacht thought
	dreschen thresh	drosch threshed	gedroschen threshed
	dringen force	drang forced	gedrungen forced
	dürfen may	durfte was allowed	gedurft** been allowed↓ Used with an infinitive. The past participle being the infinitive dürfen: "Wir haben nicht gehen dürfen".
E	empfangen receive	empfing received	empfangen received
	empfehlen recommend	empfahl recommended	empfohlen recommended
	erfinden invent	erfand invented	erfunden invented
	erlöschen extinguish	erlosch extinguished	erloschen extinguished
	erschallen echo, sound	erscholl sounded	erschollen sounded
	erschrecken* scare↓ Strong (passive) and weak (active) forms: "Ich habe ihn erschreckt." (I scared him.) and "Ich erschrak bei der Explosion." (I was startled/scared by the explosion.)	erschrak scared	erschrocken scared
	essen eat	aß ate	gegessen eaten
F	fahren travel	fuhr traveled	ist gefahren traveled
	fallen fall	fiel fell	ist gefallen fallen
	fangen catch	fing caught	gefangen caught
	fechten fence	focht fenced	gefochten fenced
	finden find	fand found	gefunden found
	fliegen fly	flog flew	ist geflogen flown
	fliehen flee	floh fled	ist geflohen fled
	fließen flow	floss flowed	ist geflossen flowed
	fressen gorge	fraß gorged	gefressen gorged
	frieren freeze	fror froze	gefroren* frozen↓ Frieren takes the helping verb haben or sein, which depends on its meaning. In most cases ("to be cold") is "hat gefroren". However meaning of "to freeze, turn into ice," turns out to be "Der Boden/Das Wasser ist steif gefroren." (The ground/ water has frozen solid.)
	frohlocken rejoice	frohlockte rejoiced	frohlockt rejoiced
G	gären ferment	gor fermented	gegoren fermented
	gebären bear (child)	gebar bore	geboren born
	geben give	gab gave	gegeben given
	gedeihen flourish	gedieh flourished	ist gediehen flourished
	gefallen be pleasing, like	gefiel liked	gefallen liked
	gehen go	ging went	ist gegangen gone
	gelingen succeed	gelang succeeded	ist gelungen succeeded
	gelten be valid	galt was valid	gegolten been valid
	genesen recover	genas recovered	genesen recovered
	genießen enjoy	genoß enjoyed	genossen enjoyed
	geschehen happen	geschah happened	ist geschehen happened
	gewinnen win	gewann won	gewonnen won
	gießen pour	goß poured	gegossen poured
	gleichen resemble	glich resembled	geglichen resembled
	gleiten glide, slide	glitt glided	ist geglitten glided
	glimmen glow, smoulder	glomm* glowed	ist geglommen* glowed↓ Also glimmte and hat geglimmt (weak).
	graben dig	grub dug	gegraben dug
	greifen grasp	griff grasped	gegriffen grasped
H	haben have	hatte had	gehabt had
	halten hold	hielt held	gehalten held
	hängen hang	hing hung/hanged*↓ Hängen is weak in transit ("Er hängte das Bild an die Wand.") and strong in intransitive nomances ("Das Bild hing an der Wand.").	hauen hew, hit
	haute* hit	gehauen hit	gehangen hung/hanged*↓ Past form hieb (strong verb) is used and the meaning becomes "struck (him) with a weapon."
	heben lift	hob lifted	gehoben lifted
	heißen be called	hieß named	geheißen named
	helfen help	half helped	geholfen helped
I
J
K	kennen* know	kannte knew	gekannt known Kennen is a "mixed" verb. Combination of strong and weak verbs.
	klingen ring	klang rang	geklungen rung
	kneifen pinch	kniff pinched	gekniffen pinched
	kommen come	kam came	ist gekommen come
	können can	konnte could	gekonnt* could Können becomes past participle, once added with an infinitive: "Ich habe nicht gehen können."
	kriechen crawl	kroch crawled	ist gekrochen crawled
L	laden load	lud loaded	geladen loaded
	lassen let, allow	ließ let	gelassen let
	laufen run	lief ran	ist gelaufen run
	leiden suffer	litt suffered	gelitten suffered
	leihen lend	lieh lent	geliehen lent
	lesen read	las read	gelesen read
	liegen* lie↓ Liegen (lie, recline, strong) and (sich) legen (lay, put, weak) are not the same.	lag lay	gelegen lain
	lügen lie	log lied	gelogen lied
M	mahlen grind	mahlte ground	gemahlen ground
	meiden avoid	mied avoided	gemieden avoided
	messen measure	maß measured	gemessen measured
	misslingen fail	misslang failed	misslungen failed
	mögen like	mochte liked	'gemocht* liked↓ The past participle is mögen, when used with a infinitive: "Sie hat nicht gehen mögen."
	müssen must	musste had to	gemusst* had to↓ The past participle is the infinitive müssen, when used under all modals, with an infinitive: "Wir haben nicht gehen müssen."
N	nehmen take	nahm took	genommen taken
	nennen name	nannte named	genannt named
O
P	pfeifen whistle	pfiff whistled	gepfiffen whistled
	preisen praise	pries praised	gepriesen praised
Q	quellen gush	quoll* gushed↓ Weak form quellte.	ist gequollen* gushed↓ Weak form hat gequellt.
R	raten advise	riet advised	geraten advised
	reiben rub	reib rubbed	gerieben rubbed
	reißen tear	riss tore	gerissen torn
	reiten* ride↓ The verb reiten is only used for riding an animal (e.g., horseback riding); to express "ride" in a transportation sense (bus, train, etc.), fahren is used.	ritt rode	ist geritten ridden
	rennen* run↓ A "mixed" verb, combining elements of strong and weak verbs.	rannte ran	ist gerannt run
	riechen smell	roch smelled	gerochen smelled
	ringen wring	rang wrung	gerungen wrung
	rinnen flow	rann flowed	ist geronnen flowed
	rufen call	rief called	gerufen called
S	salzen salt	salzte salted	gesalzen/gesalzt salted
	saufen drink	soff drank	gesoffen drunk
	saugen suck	sog* sucked	gesogen* sucked↓ The weak forms saugte and hat gesaugt. Mostly the weak form is used.
	schaffen create; accomplish, make	schuf* created→↓ The strong forms schuf/hat geschaffen are used when the meaning is "created" ("Sie hat schöne Sachen geschaffen.").	geschaffen* created→↓ To express "accomplished" or "made it," the weak forms schaffte/hat geschafft are used: "Er hat es geschafft (ein Tor zu machen)!"
	scheiden depart; separate	schied separated	geschieden* separated↓ In the sense of "leave" or "depart" scheiden takes sein as a helping verb: "Karl ist aus dem Dienst geschieden."
	scheinen shine	schien shone	geschienen shone
	scheißen shit	schiss shit	geschissen shit
	schelten scold	schalt scolded	gescholten scolded
	schießen shoot	schoss shot	geschossen shot
	schlafen sleep	schlief slept	geschlafen slept
	schlagen hit	schlug hit	geschlagen hit
	schleichen sneak	schlich sneaked	ist geschlichen sneaked
	schleifen polish	schliff* polished	geschliffen* polished↓ Although the strong form is preferred, schleifte and hat geschleift (weak) are also used.
	schleißen slit	schliß slit	geschlissen slit
	schließen close, lock	schloss closed	geschlossen closed
	schlingen gulp (down)	schlang gulped	geschlungen gulped
	schmeißen fling, toss	schmiss flung	geschmissen flung
	schmelzen melt	schmolz melted	geschmolzen melted
	schneiden cut	schnitt cut	geschnitten cut
	schrecken scare	schrak/schreckte scared	geschreckt/geschrocken scared
	schreiben write	schrieb wrote	geschrieben written
	schreien scream	schrie screamed	geschrien screamed
	schreiten step	schritt stepped	ist geschritten stepped
	schweigen be silent	schwieg was silent	geschwiegen been silent
	schwellen* swell, rise↓ There are two forms of schwellen: Strong (above) for the sense of "to swell up/fill with wind," and Weak to "fill (something) up with wind/to swell (something) up."	schwoll swelled	ist geschwollen swollen
	schwimmen swim	schwamm swam	ist geschwommen swum
	schwinden dwindle	schwand dwindled	ist geschwunden dwindled
	schwingen swing	schwang swung	geschwungen swung
	schwören swear	schwur/schwor swore	geschworen sworn
Se	sehen see	sah saw	gesehen seen
	sein be	war was	ist gewesen been
	senden* send, transmit↓ In the sense of "transmit" or "broadcast" only the weak forms sendete and hat gesendet are used. The weak forms may also be used in the sense of "send."	sandte sent	gesandt sent
	sieden boil	sott/siedete boiled	gesotten boiled
	singen sing	sang sang	gesungen sung
	sinken sink	sank sank	ist gesunken sunk
	sitzen* sit↓ Sitzen (sit, strong) and (sich) setzen (set, weak) are different!	saß sat	gesessen sat
	sollen should, ought to	sollte should	gesollt* should↓ With an infinitive, the past participle is sollen: "Ich habe nicht gehen sollen."
	spalten split	spaltete split	gespalten/gespaltet split
	speien spew	spie spewed	gespien spewed
	spinnen spin	spann spun	gesponnen spun
	sprechen speak	sprach spoke	gesprochen spoken
	sprießen sprout	spross sprouted	gesprossen sprouted
	springen jump	sprang jumped	ist gesprungen jumped
	stechen stab, sting	stach stung	gestochen stung
	stehen stand	stand stood	gestanden* stood↓ In some southern German and Austrian dialects, stehen takes sein as a helping verb: "Er ist im Eingang gestanden."
	stehlen steal	stahl stole	gestohlen stolen
	steigen climb	stieg climbed	ist gestiegen climbed
	sterben die	starb died	ist gestorben died
	stieben fly about	stob flew about	ist gestoben flown about
	stinken stink	stank stank	gestunken stunk
	stoßen push, bump	stieß pushed	gestoßen pushed
	streichen strike, paint	strich struck	gestrichen struck
	streiten argue	stritt argued	gestritten argued
T	tragen carry, wear	trug wore	getragen worn
	treffen meet	traf met	getroffen met
	treiben move, drive	trieb drove	getrieben* driven↓ In the sense of "drift" or "float" treiben takes sein as a helping verb: "Das Eis ist den Fluss entlang getrieben."
	triefen drip	triefte/troff dripped	getrieft dripped
	trinken drink	trank drank	getrunken drunk
	trügen be deceptive	trog was deceptive	getrogen been deceptive
	tun do	tat did	getan done
U	überwinden overcome	überwand overcame	überwunden overcome
V	verderben spoil	verdarb spoiled	verdorben spoiled
	verdrießen annoy	verdross annoyed	verdrossen annoyed
	vergessen forget	vergaß forgot	vergessen forgotten
	verlieren lose	verlor lost	verloren lost
	verschleißen wear (out)	verschliss wore (out)	verschlissen worn (out)
	verzeihen forgive	verzieh forgave	verziehen forgiven
W	wachsen* grow↓ In the sense of "to wax" (skis, etc.), wachsen is weak: (wachste and hat gewachst).	wuchs grew	ist gewachsen grown
	waschsen wash	wusch washed	gewaschsen washed
	weben weave	wob/webte wove	gewoben/gewebt woven
	weichen* yield↓ In the sense of "to soften" (up), weichen is weak: (weichte and hat geweicht).	wich yielded	ist gewichen yielded
	weisen indicate	wies indicated	gewiesen indicated
	wenden turn	wandte* turned→↓	gewandt* turned→↓ Also wendete and gewendet (car, hay, etc.).
	werben recruit	warb recruited	geworben recruited
	werden become	wurde became	ist geworden* become↓ As a helping verb in the passive voice: worden, as in "Ich bin oft gefragt worden." (I have often been asked.)
	werfen throw	warf threw	geworfen thrown
	wiegen weigh	wog/wiegte weighed	gewogen/gewiegt weighed
	winden twist	wand twisted	gewunden twisted
	wissen* know↓ Wissen is a "mixed" verb, combination of strong and weak verbs	wusste knew	gewusst known
	wollen want to	wollte wanted to	gewollt* wanted to↓ With an infinitive, the past participle is wollen: "Ich habe nicht gehen wollen."
	wringen wring	wrang wrung	gewrungen wrung
X
Y
Z	zeihen accuse	zieh accused	geziehen accused
	ziehen* pull↓ Do not confuse with ↑zeihen.↑	zog pulled	gezogen pulled
	zwingen compel	zwang compelled	gezwungen compelled

Separable Verbs

Sometimes you will run into verbs such as anrufen, aufräumen, mitkommen. These verbs are examples of Separable Prefix Verbs. When you see these kinds of verbs, it will have a preposition prefix followed by a verb. These verbs separate when they are the main verb of a sentence.

EXAMPLES:

I am calling the butcher. Ich rufe den Metzger an.

I am trying on the boots. Ich probiere die Stiefel an.

Reflexive Verbs

Reflexive Verbs are verbs involving the reflexive pronoun "sich" and its conjugations that reflect, or refer back, to the performer of the action. There are only accusative and dative reflexive pronouns.

Accusative reflexive pronouns are used when there is no direct object. Dative reflexive pronouns are used when a direct object is present. However, when using a direct object, the possessive is not used.

Examples:

Accusative: Ich verletze mich. I injure myself.

Dative: Ich verletze mir die Hand. I injure my hand.

Accusative: Er hat sich verbrannt. He burned himself.

Dative: Er hat sich den Daumen verbrannt. He burned his thumb.

Reflexiv Pronommen

	Akkusativ (Wenfall)	Dativ (Wemfall)
1st sg.	mich	mir
2nd sg. (informal)	dich	dir
1st pl.	uns	uns
2nd pl. (informal)	euch	euch
2nd sg. or pl. formal; 3rd.	sich	sich

Notice that all reflexives are the same as the Akkusativ and Dativ Pronoun Declensions — except for 3rd Person and 2nd sg./pl. Person formal (man/sie/Sie), in which case all reflexives are sich.

Modals

Dürfen

Dürfen means to be allowed/permitted, may.

	Present	Past	Conjunctive II
ich	darf (I am allowed to)	durfte	dürfte
du	darfst (You are allowed to)	durftest	dürftest
er/sie/es	darf (He/She/It is allowed to)	durfte	dürfte
wir	dürfen (We are allowed to)	durften	dürften
ihr	dürft (You (plural) are allowed to)	durftet	dürftet
sie/Sie	dürfen (They are allowed to/You (formal) are allowed to)	durften	dürften

Examples:

Darf ich einen Freund zum Fest bringen? May I bring a friend to the party?
Man darf hier nicht rauchen. One is not allowed to smoke here.
Niemand durfte die Stadt verlassen. No one was allowed to leave the city.

Können

können means 'to be able, capable'. It is cognate with the English word 'can'/'could'.

	Present	Past	Conjunctive II
ich	kann (I can)	konnte	könnte
du	kannst (You can)	konntest	könntest
er/sie/es	kann (He/She/It can)	konnte	könnte
wir	können (We can)	konnten	könnten
ihr	könnt (You can)	konntet	könntet
sie/Sie	können (They can)	konnten	könnten

Examples:

Ich kann das nicht tun. I can't do it.
Wir konnten sie nicht erreichen. We could not reach them.

Mögen

mögen expresses a pleasure, or desire. In the present tense, it is used transitively with people or food. e.g. 'Ich mag dich' 'I like you' or 'Ich mag Erdbeeren' 'I like strawberries'. The subjunctive (of the past) expresses preference to perform the action of a subordinate clause 'Ich möchte nach Frankreich reisen' 'I would like to travel to France'. 'mögen' is cognate with the English verb 'may'/'might'.

	Present	Past	Conjunctive II
ich	mag (I would like to)	mochte	möchte (I would like to)
du	magst (You like to)	mochtest	möchtest (You would like to)
er/sie/es	mag (He/She/It likes to)	mochte	möchte (He/She/It would like to)
wir	mögen (We like to)	mochten	möchten (We would like to)
ihr	mögt (You like to)	mochtet	möchtet (You would like to)
sie/Sie	mögen (They like to)	mochten	möchten (They would like to)

Example:

Ich möchte nach Deutschland reisen. I would like to travel to Germany.

(There is also a present subjunctive möge, which is very formal:
Der König sagte: "Er möge eintreten." - The king said: "He may enter.")

Müssen

müssen expresses something forced on you. It is etymologically related to 'must'.

	Present	Past	Conjunctive II
ich	muss gehen (I must/have to go)	musste (I had to)	müsste
du	musst	musstest	müsstest
er/sie/es	muss	musste	müsste
wir	müssen	mussten	müssten
ihr	müsst	musstet	müsstet
sie/Sie	müssen	mussten	müssten

Examples:

Ich muss nicht arbeiten. ~ Ich brauche nicht zu arbeiten.  I don't have to work.
Ich darf nicht arbeiten.  I must not work.

Note that the negative nicht müssen is not the English must not, but rather need not or don't have/need to. must not translates to nicht dürfen.

There are however some northern German uses like:

Du musst das nicht tun meaning Du solltest das nicht tun.

Sollen

sollen expresses an obligation or duty. It is etymologically related to 'shall'.

	Present	Past
ich	soll schwimmen (I am to swim)	sollte (I was to)
du	sollst	solltest
er/sie/es	soll	sollte
wir	sollen	sollten
ihr	sollt	solltet
sie/Sie	sollen	sollten

Wollen

wollen means to want.

	Present	Past
ich	will rennen (I want to run)	wollte
du	willst	wolltest
er/sie/es	will	wollte
wir	wollen	wollten
ihr	wollt	wolltet
sie/Sie	wollen	wollten

Use in Perfect (and Pluperfect) Tense

Although all these modals have a normal perfect:

gedurft gekonnt gemocht gemusst gesollt

in connection with other verbs, the infinitive form is used:

Ich habe das tun dürfen - können - mögen - müssen - sollen.

Wrong:

Ich habe das tun gedurft - gekonnt - gemocht - gemusst - gesollt.

It holds also for the verbs sehen and hören:

Ich habe ihn kommen sehen - hören.

Use of modal verbs as full verbs

Modal verbs can be used as full verbs indicating motion. In these cases, the infinitive verb is only implied.

Er muss nach Berlin. (implied: gehen or fahren) He must go to Berlin.

Present Tense

Use

The Present Tense is used for..

• The Present Tense (="das Präsens") is used to describe situations that are happening and aren't the past.

• For Ongoing Action, like I'm swimming in the pool now

• Everyday Truths, like The moon and stars will come at night.

• Future meaning, if explicitly stated, like I will run tomorrow morning

• Actions started in the past and still going on in the present I've been cleaning the house all day

Progressive Forms

There is a present progressive tense in colloquial spoken German. Its use is optional.

Here is one example:

Ich bin am Fahren. (I am at the driving) I'm driving.

The person to say this would be driving during the time they say this and they would continue to drive after stating this for some time.

You nominalize the verb ("fahren" (driving) becomes "das Fahren") and add a "am". You can also do this with forms of the past.

Als er kam war ich gerade am Abwaschen. (When he arrived i was at "the dishwashing") I was washing the dishes when he arrived.

So the verb "sein" (to be) includes the information what tense he was doing what he did in.

Here the progressive meaning is also emphasized with the word "gerade" meaning something like: I was JUST ABOUT to wash the dishes(not the same though because it means he is already doing it and not about to start).

Perfect Tense

The Perfect Tense or das Perfekt of verbs is used to talk about things in the past which have already happened. It is sometimes referred to as "Present Perfect Tense". This can cause confusion. While the formation is similar, the meaning and usage differs.

Formation

As in English, the perfect tense consists of two parts. An auxiliary (Hilfsverb) and a past participle (Partizip Perfekt). Compare the examples given below with their English translations.

Er	hat	gelacht.
He	has	laughed.

Sie	ist	gekommen
She	has	come.

Die Kinder	haben	gegessen.
The children	have	eaten.

Past participle for regular verbs

The general rule is simple:

verb	prefix	+ 3rd-person sing.	participle(er/sie/es)
lachen (laugh)	ge	+ (er/sie/es) lacht	gelacht
kaufen (buy)	ge	+ (er/sie/es) kauft	gekauft
mähen (mow)	ge	+ (er/sie/es) mäht	gemäht

There are some groups of regular verbs that slightly differ from that pattern.

Some verbs drop the prefix ge-. Like the other regular verbs they end in -t. These are:

1. Verbs with unseparable prefixes (be-, ent-, er-, empf-, ge-, ver-, miss-, zer-)
Examples:

verb	past participle
besuchen (visit)	besucht
entfernen (remove)	entfernt
erreichen (achieve)	erreicht
gehören (belong)	gehört
verstecken (hide)	versteckt
missverstehen (misunderstand)	missverstanden

2. Verbs ending in -ieren
Examples:

verb	past participle
kopieren (copy)	kopiert
polieren (polish)	poliert

3. Another group is formed by verbs with separable prefixes
With separable verbs, the prefix ge is placed between the prefix and the rest of the verb.
Examples:

verb	sep. pref.+ ge + 3rd-person sg.	= past participle
aufmachen (open)	auf + ge + macht	= aufgemacht
abstellen (put down)	ab + ge + stellt	= abgestellt

Separable and inseparable verbs are distinguished by the stressed syllable:

verb	past participle
über'setzen (to translate)	über'setzt
'übersetzen (to ferry across)	'übergesetzt

Er hat das Buch ins Chinesische übersetzt.
Der Fährmann hat den Passagier übergesetzt (über den Fluss gesetzt).

Past Participle for Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs always end in -en. The vowel can be different from the one in present tense. Look at some examples:

infinitive	3rd-person sg.	past participle
gehen (go)	geht	gegangen
essen (eat)	isst	gegessen
schreiben (write)	schreibt	geschrieben
trinken (drink)	trinkt	getrunken
schlafen (sleep)	schläft	geschlafen
nehmen (take)	nimmt	genommen

You have to learn these forms by heart. How you can obtain the necessary information and how you should learn them is described in section tips for learning below.

Note that irregular verbs can be combined with the same prefixes as described above. The same rules regarding the prefix ge- apply. Therefore the forms for schreiben, verschreiben and aufschreiben are geschrieben, verschrieben and aufgeschrieben respectively.

Which verbs are irregular

A lot of verbs that are irregular in English are irregular in German, too. Unfortunately, this is not always true. It is most likely when the German and the English verb are related (i.e. look similar).

Examples:

see:    irregular   sehen:    irregular
buy:    irregular   kaufen:   regular
get:    irregular   bekommen: irregular ;-)

Regular verbs are much more frequent than irregular ones, but a lot of the irregular verbs are used very frequently, for instance haben, sein, gehen, kommen etc.

When in doubt whether a verb is irregular or not, it is best to look it up in a dictionary (See below).

Haben or sein as auxiliaries

Whether a verb is irregular or not does not influence the choice of auxiliary.

Most verbs take haben as auxiliary.

A) Verbs which take an accusative object (transitive verbs)
B) Reflexive verbs always take haben as auxiliary.

Examples A:

trinken: Er hat ein Bier getrunken.
lesen:   Sie hat ein Buch gelesen
kochen   Sie haben gestern Spaghetti gekocht.

Examples B:

sich freuen   Ich habe mich gefreut
sich kämmen   Er hat sich gekämmt
sich ärgern   Wir haben uns schon lange nicht mehr so geärgert.

The auxiliary sein is taken by verbs that describe

C) the relocation from one place to another or

D) the change of a state

and with

E) sein (be) and bleiben (stay)

Note: none of the verbs from groups C-E is combined with an accusative object.

Examples C: relocation verbs

verb               aux.  irregular  sentence with perfect tense 
kommen (come)      sein  yes        Ich bin gekommen.
reisen (travel)    sein  no         Wir sind schon dreimal nach China gereist.
fahren (drive)     sein  yes        Ich bin mit dem Auto nach Kalifornien gefahren.
begegnen (meet)    sein  no         Er ist ihm gestern begegnet. 
gehen (go)         sein  yes        Du bist gegangen.
starten (take off) sein  yes        Das Flugzeug ist gestartet.

In southern German (mostly Bavarian) use, also stehen, sitzen und schwimmen are treated like a (non-)movement:

Ich bin gestanden - gesessen - geschwommen. High German is: Ich habe gestanden - gesessen - geschwommen.
Aber: Ich habe den See durchschwommen.

Examples D: change of state verbs

verb                        aux.   irr.    sentence with perfect tense
aufstehen (get up)          sein   yes     Ich bin heute früh aufgestanden.
einschlafen (fall asleep)   sein   yes     Die Kinder sind endlich eingeschlafen.
verblühen (whither)         sein   no      Die Blumen sind schon verblüht

Examples E: sein and bleiben

Er ist nicht lange geblieben.  He didn't stay long.
Er ist immer nett gewesen.     He has always been nice.

Exceptions to the rules Some of the verbs from group A can be used with an object in accusative case. In this case, they take haben as auxiliary.

Compare:

Ich bin nach Kalifornien gefahren.                  I drove to California. 
Ich bin mit dem Auto nach Kalifornien gefahren.     I drove to California by car (literally: with the car)
Ich habe das Auto (Akk.) nach Kalifornien gefahren. I drove the car to California. 

The same applies to fliegen (fly), starten and reiten (ride a horse).

Usage

Unlike in English the difference in meaning between Perfekt and Präteritum is rather small. The main difference between those two forms lies in usage. Perfekt is mostly used in spoken language, while Präteritum is mostly reserved for written texts. However, the modals, the verbs haben and sein and the expression es gibt are almost exclusively used in Präteritum - even when speaking. One reason might be the frequency of those verbs, the other reason is most likely the very complex perfect forms for modals.

(This is in southern German use; in northern German, you'll hear the preterite also in spoken language.)

On the other hand, the perfect tense is used in writing too. The more oral the text is, the more perfect tense you will find (for example in personal letters etc.). If an action has happened very recently, it tends to be in perfect tense too.

Look at the following conversation and concentrate on the distribution of Präteritum and Perfekt.

(1) Anna: Hallo Peter. Wo warst du denn? Ich habe dich schon lange nicht mehr gesehen.
(2) Peter: Hallo Anna. Ich war die letzen zwei Wochen im Urlaub.
(3) Anna: So? Wo warst du denn genau?
(4) Peter: Auf der Insel Elba, in einem fantastischen Hotel. Es gab jeden Abend ein Büffet und man konnte essen, so viel man wollte!
(5) Anna (lacht): Ich glaube dir sofort, dass dir das gefallen hat. Du hast aber nicht nur gegessen, oder? Was hast du denn den ganzen Tag gemacht?
(6) Peter (lacht auch): Nein, natürlich nicht. Ich bin viel geschwommen, ich habe mir die Insel angeguckt und am Abend bin ich immer zum Tanzen in eine Disco gegangen.
(7) Anna: Aha... Und? Hast du jemanden kennen gelernt?
(8) Peter (grinst): Kein Kommentar.

Vocablary to help you understand the text:

der Urlaub, -e   vacation
genau            exactly, precisely
die Insel, -n    island
das Büffet, -s   buffet
gefallen         like
angucken         to look at (colloquial)
kennen lernen    get to know
grinsen          grin

Used forms to talk about past events

Präteritum         Perfekt
du warst (1/3)     habe gesehen (1)
ich war (2)        es hat gefallen (5)
es gab (4)         du hast gegessen (5)
konnte (4)         du hast gemacht (5)
wollte (4)         ich bin geschwommen (6)
                   ich habe angeguckt (6)
                   ich bin gegangen (6)
                   du hast kennen gelernt

How to find the forms in a dictionary

Unless you have a special dictionary for learners, not all the forms will be spelled out. Regular forms are often omitted. The same goes for the auxiliary haben. If no forms are indicated, you may assume that the verb is regular and has the verb haben as an auxiliary. However, if you find the abbreviation itr or i. (for intransitive) behind the verb, the auxiliary is often sein. Intransitve verbs don't have an accusative object and these are often used with sein, while transitive verbs (tr. or t.) are always conjugated with haben.

Sometimes not even the forms of irregular verbs are given in the lexicon entry. Irregular verbs are often indicated by irr. for irregular or a similar abbreviation. In that case, look for a list of irregular verb forms in the index of your dictionary.

To find the past participle of separable verbs you often have to cut the prefix and look for the base form of the verb. If you look for aufstehen (get up), you probably find your answer in the entry of stehen. Remember: The prefix ge goes in between the prefix of the separable verb and the verb itself: auf + ge + standen.

When working online, you might consider using Canoo. Enter an arbitrary form of the word you are interested in into the mask. Hit enter. On the results page, choose the link Flexion behind the appropriate entry (or inflection in the English version). You will get a table of all possible verb forms.

Tips for learning

Irregular forms are just that - irregular. Therefore you have to learn them by heart. By learning four forms, you can construct every verb form for a given verb.

The forms you should know are:

Infinitiv    Präsens          Präteritum    Hilfsverb  + Partizip Perfekt
infinitiv    3rd person       preterite     auxiliary  + past participle
gehen        geht             ging          ist        + gegangen
nehmen       nimmt            nahm          hat        + genommen
fahren       fährt            fuhr          ist        + gefahren
lesen        liest            las           hat        + gelesen
essen        isst             aß            hat        + gegessen
kommen       kommt            kam           ist        + gekommen
bleiben      bleibt           blieb         ist        + geblieben
sein         ist              war           ist        + gewesen
anfangen     fängt ... an     fing ... an   hat        + angefangen
...

All forms - besides the infinitive of course - should be in 3rd-person singular.

A good way to learn those forms is to put them on small cards. On one side you write the infinitive and probably a sentence to illustrate the usage of the verb. On the backside you put the rest of the forms and - if needed - a translation of the verb. When learning, you look at the infinitve and try to remember the forms and the meaning. You can easily verify your hypothesis by flipping the card.

If you encounter a verb you want to learn, look it up in a dictionary. If it is irregular, learn the verb together with its defining forms. Like that, you spare yourself a lot of trouble later on.

Sentence Structure

The perfect tense consists of two verb forms: an auxiliary and a past participle. Together they form the so called predicate. The predicate consists of all verb parts in one clause.

The sentence structure in perfect behaves as with every two parts predicate (modals plus infinitive, separable verbs etc.)

Main Clauses

In a main clause (Hauptsatz), the conjugated verb (the auxiliary in this case) is in the second position and the past participle stands at the end of the clause.

   First Position (I)       (II)
1) Sein Vater               hat  gestern ein fantastisches Essen gekocht.
2) Gestern                  hat  sein Vater ein fantastisches Essen gekocht.
   Both: Yesterday, his father cooked a fantastic meal.
3) Ein fantastisches Essen  hat  sein Vater gestern gekocht.*
   It was a fantastic meal that his father cooked yesterday.

* The third example is correct, although not very frequent. You might use it if you want to stress what exactly his father has prepared or if you have to repeat the sentence because your partner has not understood this particular part of it.

Second position does not equal second word, as you can see above. However, there is only one group of words allowed before the conjugated verb (the auxiliary in this case). Such groups of words are called "phrases". While you can put very long phrases in front of the conjugated verb, you must not use two. Therefore the sentence "Gestern sein Vater hat ein fantastisches Essen gekocht" is wrong.

Subordinated Clauses

Subordinated clauses begin with a subordinating conjunction. Well known conjunctions of this kind are

weil  dass  wenn. 

*In spoken language weil is often used like und or aber, which means that it is followed by a main clause. However, after weil, speakers often pause for a little while. There is no pause after either und or aber.
Weil + main clause is not allowed in written language. Therefore you may say: Ich gehe, weil - (little pause) - ich bin müde. But you wouldn't use it in a letter. At least not yet.
The correct conjunction for a main clause is denn, which is rarely used in spoken language.

In subordinated clauses the conjugated verb, i.e. the auxiliary, stands at the very end of the sentence. The past participle stands directly in front of it. For example:

                  conj.    aux.                 participle  aux.
Ich weiß,         dass  du      das             gemacht     hast.
Ich glaube dir,   weil  du      bisher noch nie gelogen     hast.
Ich glaube dir,   denn  du hast bisher noch nie gelogen.
Ich gehe,         wenn  du                      gegangen    bist.

Past tense

Regular verbs

Regular (or better, weak) verbs take the ending -te. The person endings are added afterwards. Note that the forms for 1st- and 3rd-person singular are the same.

	lernen
ich	lernte
du	lerntest
er/sie/es	lernte
wir	lernten
ihr	lerntet
sie/Sie	lernten

If the stem of a verb (infinitive minus -en) ends in -t (arbeit-en), -d (end-en) or consonant plus m or n (öffn-en, rechn-en) you add an -e before the preterite endings.

	arbeiten
ich	arbeitete
du	arbeitetest
er/sie/es	arbeitete
wir	arbeiteten
ihr	arbeitetet
sie/Sie	arbeiteten

Irregular verbs

Without -te

The strong verbs belong to this group. The endings are easy to memorize. It is harder to know which vowel to use. The rule mentioned above for t/d, double-consonant + n/m applies also for irregular verbs.

	fahren	stehen
ich	fuhr	stand
du	fuhrst	stand(e)st
er/sie/es	fuhr	stand
wir	fuhren	standen
ihr	fuhrt	standet
sie/Sie	fuhren	standen

gehen, ging, gegangen
stehen, stand, gestanden

With -te

Few irregular verbs take the -te ending. Examples are: nennen, rennen, kennen, bringen, denken and the irregular modals (können, dürfen and müssen).

	nennen
ich	nannte
du	nanntest
er/sie/es	nannte
wir	nannten
ihr	nanntet
sie/Sie	nannten

Future Tense

Talking about future with the present tense

German uses the Present Tense to talk about the future whenever it is clear to both speaker and listener that the future is meant. In the dialogue example:

Wenn du zu Hause bleibst, kommen wir dich besuchen.
If you stay at home, we shall come and visit you.

The whole conversation is about the future, so there is no need to indicate it again in the tense of the verb.

Some more examples:

Ich schreibe den Brief heute Abend.
I will write the letter this evening.

Wir gehen nächstes Jahr nach Spanien.
We will go to Spain next year.

Futur I

Where the meaning would not otherwise be clear, and in more formal language, e.g. to express an intention, German talks about the future tense by using werden plus the infinitive at the end of the clause. The forms of werden are:

ich werde
du wirst
er/sie/es/man wird

wir werden
ihr werdet
sie/Sie werden

Examples:

Ich werde ein Haus bauen.
I shall build a house. (an intention)

Wir werden sehen.
We will see.

The future can also express some inescapable fate:

Sie werden alle umkommen.
They will all perish.

Future II

The Future II is formed with added "sein" oder "haben" and expresses that one action will happen before another one.

Wenn sie das Abendessen gekocht haben wird, werden sie kommen. 
When she will have cooked the dinner, they will come.

In the colloquial language, the perfect is often used for that.

In the colloquial language expresses the Future II often a speculation about the past.

Sie werden angekommen sein.
literally "they will have arrived" - meaning "(I gather) they have arrived (by now)"

Sie werden es gemacht haben.
"they will have done it"

In the colloquial language, the Futur II is normally used when speaking about something that should have happened already, but you are not sure or you can't prove it.

() (discussion) Grammar Introduction and overview • Basic terminology • Personal pronouns, formal and informal you, introduction to gender • Intransitive verbs, verb conjugation, present tense • Adverbs, V2 word order, Negation of verbs, Sentence adverbs • Stem-changing verbs, Weak vs. Strong verbs • Polar questions, V1 word order, Pre- and postambles • Noun gender • Noun plurals • Noun phrases, Articles • Transitive verbs, Accusative case, word order • Pronomial possessives, Possessive determiners, Possessive pronouns, Negation with kein • Irregular verbs, Past-like present verbs • Uninflected adjectives, Predicate phrases, Copulative verbs • Interrogatives, der words • Future tense, The sentence bracket • Ditransitive verbs, Dative case • Coordinating conjunctions, Ellipses, Adverbial conjunctions, Multipart conjunctions • Prepositions with accusative and dative, Prepositional verbs • Prefixed verbs, Separable verbs, Separable and inseparable prefixes • Imperatives, The imperative mood, The impersonal imperative • Impersonal verbs, Impersonal pronouns, the Point-of-view dative • Dative prepositions • Possessives and the genitive case • Modal auxiliary verbs, Compound verbs, Modal adverbs • Demonstratives • The simple past tense • Reflexive pronouns and reflexive verbs • Subordinating conjunctions • Declining adjectives Adjectives and Adverbs • Alphabet • Cases • Nouns • Prepositions and Postpositions • Pronouns • Sentences • Verbs