Participle II

To form the perfect tense for expressing the past, you need to learn a special verb form: the participle perfect (also called past participle) or Partizip II, or the third form of the verb.

Participle Perfect with Weak Verbs

Rule 1: To form the Partizip II of weak verbs, we use the construction:

ge + verb stem + t:

Rule 2: If the verb stem ends in -d or -t, we add an "e" for the pronunciation.

Past Participle with Strong Verbs

Rule 3: Many strong, or irregular verbs, follow the construction:

ge + verb stem + (e)n:

Rule 4: Some strong verbs change the vowel (a, e, i, o, u) when forming the participle 2. These are mostly verbs that change the vowel in the present tense as well, such as:

Rule 5: The double vowel "ei", will almost always change to "ie":

Exception: Verbs Ending in -ieren

Rule 6: Verbs with the ending -ieren form the Partizip II (past participle) without "ge-". They follow the construction:

verb stem + t:

Past Participle of Separable and Inseparable Verbs

Rule 7: To form the past participle of separable and inseparable verbs, the past participle of the main verb stays the same, but:

- with separable verbs, the "ge-" goes after the prefix. So we have the following construction:

prefix + ge + verb stem + -t/-en:

- inseparable verbs form their past participles without "ge-". So we have the following construction:

prefix + verb stem + -t/-en: