GERM 1100 Chapter Notes - Chapter Kapitel 4: Du Hast, German Verbs, English Verbs

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: German Studies
• Course: GERM 1100
• Professor: Ruediger Mueller

Document Summary

The german present perfect corresponds closely in form to the english present perfect. In both languages it consists of an inflected auxiliary verb or "helping verb") and an unchanging past participle. In the use of this tense, however, there is a considerable difference between english and german. In everyday conversation, english makes more use of the simple past, whereas german prefers the present perfect. Wie haben kein englisch gesprochen we didn"t speak any english. The german present perfect corresponds to four past-tense forms in english: Wie haben das gelernt we have learned that. Most german verbs form the past perfect by using the present tense of haben (v1) with the past participle (v2). The past participle is placed at the end of the sentence of clause. Er / es / sie hat gelernt. German has two groups of verbs that form their past principles in different ways. Ihr habt gelernt sie / sie haben gelernt.