Lesson 58: What I Did Last Weekend: The Past with Haben

You already learned how to talk about the past with war and hatte:

Gestern war ich krank.
Yesterday I was sick.

Ich hatte Fieber.
I had a fever.

Now you’ll learn the past tense form German uses for many everyday actions, especially in spoken German.

You’ll be able to say things like:

Ich habe eingekauft.
I went shopping.

Ich habe meine Mutter angerufen.
I called my mother.

Ich habe eine Party gemacht.
I had a party.

What You’ll Learn

• How to use haben to talk about past actions
• How regular past participles work
• How separable verbs work in the past
• Why the past participle goes at the end
• How to say what you did last weekend

A Quick Look at the German Past Tense

German has more than one way to talk about the past.

You already learned war and hatte:

Now you’ll learn another past form called the Perfekt.

This is very common in spoken German.

For everyday actions, German often uses:

haben + past participle

How The Past With Haben Works

Look at this sentence:

Ich habe eingekauft.
I went shopping.

It has two verb parts:

In English, the translation may sound like simple past:

Ich habe eingekauft. = I went shopping.

You do not need to translate it word for word. Just understand that this is a normal way to talk about past actions in German.

Regular Past Participles

Many regular verbs form the past participle like this:

ge + verb stem + t

Look at these examples:

Now use the past participle with haben:

Ich habe eine Party gemacht.
I had a party.

Ich habe Brot gekauft.
I bought bread.

Ich habe Musik gehört.
I listened to music.

Ich habe Deutsch gelernt.
I studied German.

Word Order With Haben

The helping verb habe comes early.
The past participle goes at the end.

Ich habe Musik gehört.

This is very important.

Do not say:

Ich gehört Musik habe.

Say:

Ich habe Musik gehört.

More examples:

Ich habe am Samstag eingekauft.
I went shopping on Saturday.

Ich habe am Abend Musik gehört.
I listened to music in the evening.

Ich habe eine Party gemacht.
I had a party.

Separable Verbs In The Past

You already know separable verbs like:

einkaufen = to go shopping
aufräumen = to tidy up
anrufen = to call someone

In the past, the ge often goes between the two parts of the verb.

Examples:

Ich habe eingekauft.
I went shopping.

Ich habe meine Wohnung aufgeräumt.
I tidied my apartment.

Ich habe meine Mutter angerufen.
I called my mother.

Notice that angerufen is not regular, but it is very useful. Learn it as a full past form:

anrufen → angerufen

Vocabulary For This Lesson

Some of these words are familiar, but the past-tense forms are new and important.

Useful Past-Tense Phrases

A Note About Eine Party Machen

You can say:

Ich habe eine Party gemacht.
I had/threw a party.

You may also hear:

Wir haben Party gemacht.
We partied.

Verbs That Do Not Use Ge-

Some common verbs do not add ge- in the past participle.

One useful example is:

besuchen → besucht

So you say:

Ich habe Freunde besucht.
I visited friends.

Not:

Ich habe Freunde gebesucht.

Asking What Someone Did

A useful question is:

Was hast du gemacht?
What did you do?

You can answer:

Ich habe eingekauft.
I went shopping.

Ich habe meine Mutter angerufen.
I called my mother.

Ich habe eine Party gemacht.
I had a party.

You can also ask:

Was hast du am Wochenende gemacht?
What did you do on the weekend?

This is a very useful question for real conversation.

Short Answers

You do not need long stories. Short answers are perfect.

Ich habe eingekauft.
I went shopping.

Ich habe Musik gehört.
I listened to music.

Ich habe meine Wohnung aufgeräumt.
I tidied my apartment.

Ich habe Freunde besucht.
I visited friends.

Ich habe meine Mutter angerufen.
I called my mother.

Reading Practice

Am Wochenende habe ich viel gemacht. Am Samstag habe ich eingekauft. Danach habe ich meine Wohnung aufgeräumt. Am Abend habe ich Musik gehört und Kaffee getrunken.

Am Sonntag habe ich meine Mutter angerufen. Später habe ich Freunde besucht. Wir haben eine kleine Party gemacht. Die Party war schön, und wir hatten viel Spaß.

Questions

Fill-In-The-Blank Sentences