GLOSSARY

Perfekt — the spoken past

The Perfekt — haben/sein + participle — is German's everyday past. Movement or change takes sein; everything else haben.

VON GERMANIUM

Editorial desk — reviewed against Goethe A1–A2 frameworks

The Perfekt is the past tense of spoken German: **haben/sein + Partizip II* at the sentence end — Ich habe gestern Pizza gegessen, Ich bin nach Berlin gefahren*. It has almost replaced the simple past in conversation (opposite of French), which is why A1 teaches it early.

The auxiliary rule: *movement A→B or change of state → sein** (gefahren, gegangen, geworden, eingeschlafen); everything else → haben. [The full rule with the trap list](/german-perfect-tense-haben-oder-sein/). Note: sein/haben themselves and the modals use Präteritum even in speech (ich war, ich konnte*).