The past participle
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The past participle
Partizipien II (past participles) can be divided into 3 groups according to the way they are formed.
- For regular verbs, the past participle is formed with ge‑ and ‑t.
kaufen gekauft
to buy bought
machen gemacht
to make made
- For verbs that start with er‑, ver‑, be‑, hinter‑ and/or end in ‑ieren, we form the past participle without ge‑ and with a ‑t or ‑en ending:
telefonieren telefoniert
to telephone telephoned
erzählen erzählt
to tell told
betrachten betrachtet
to consider considered
verstehen verstanden
to understand understood
- For irregular verbs, we form the past participle with ge‑ and ‑en. The stem may change:
essen gegessen
to eat eaten
gehen gegangen
to go gone
bleiben geblieben
to stay stayed
sehen gesehen
to see seen
Notes:
- If the verb stem ends in ‑d or ‑t, the past participle ends in ‑et:
arbeiten gearbeitet
to work worked
- The past participle is used to form composite tenses (perfect, pluperfect, passive) and as an adjective:
Anna hat/hatte das Hotel von ihrer Großmutter geerbt. (Perfekt/Plusquamperfekt)
Anna has/had inherited the hotel from her grandmother. (perfect/pluperfect)
Das Hotel wird von Anna geerbt. (Passiv)
The hotel is being inherited by Anna. (passive)
Das geerbte Hotel ist wunderschön. (Adjektiv)
The inherited hotel is beautiful. (adjective)
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