what is it?
The Partizip II (past participle) is the verb form used with the auxiliaries haben or sein to form the Perfekt (conversational past) tense — the main way to talk about completed events in everyday spoken German. Its shape depends on the verb class: weak verbs follow a regular pattern, strong verbs change their stem vowel, and certain prefixes affect whether ge- is added and where it appears.
when to use it
You need the Partizip II whenever you form the Perfekt tense. The auxiliary verb (haben or sein) is conjugated and placed in second position; the Partizip II goes to the end of the clause.
Perfekt with haben: most transitive and many intransitive verbs — Ich habe Kaffee getrunken.
Perfekt with sein: verbs of motion or change of state — Ich bin aufgestanden.
This page focuses on how to form the Partizip II. Which auxiliary to choose (haben vs. sein) is a separate topic.
formation
There are four patterns to learn. The deciding factors are: (1) whether the verb is weak or strong, (2) whether it carries an inseparable prefix, (3) whether it ends in -ieren, and (4) whether it has a separable prefix.
| verb type | rule | example infinitive | Partizip II |
|---|---|---|---|
| weak (regular) | ge- + stem + -t | machen | gemacht |
| weak, stem ends in -t/-d or consonant cluster | ge- + stem + -et | arbeiten | gearbeitet |
| strong | ge- + changed stem + -en | schreiben | geschrieben |
| strong | ge- + changed stem + -en | trinken | getrunken |
| inseparable prefix (be-, er-, ver-, zer-, ent-, emp-, ge-…) | no ge- — stem + -t or -en as normal | verstehen | verstanden |
| -ieren verb | no ge- — stem + -t | studieren | studiert |
| separable prefix | prefix + ge- + stem + -t/-en | einkaufen | eingekauft |
| separable prefix, strong | prefix + ge- + changed stem + -en | aufstehen | aufgestanden |
For strong verbs, the stem vowel change (ablaut) must be memorised individually — there is no rule that predicts it. Common pairs to learn: schreiben → geschrieben, trinken → getrunken, fahren → gefahren, essen → gegessen.
examples in context
common pitfalls
Adding ge- to -ieren verbs. Because -ieren verbs are already stressed on the -ier- syllable, they never take the ge- prefix. Write studiert, not «gestudiert». The same applies to all -ieren verbs: telefoniert, passiert, etc.
Adding ge- before an inseparable prefix. Inseparable prefixes (be-, er-, ver-, zer-, ent-, emp-, ge-…) already carry the stress; ge- is not added. Say besucht and verstanden, not «gebesucht» or «geverstanden».
Using the weak -t ending on strong verbs. Strong verbs take the -en ending and change their stem vowel. trinken becomes getrunken, not «getrinkt». When in doubt, check a verb list — there is no shortcut for predicting the ablaut vowel.
Placing ge- before the separable prefix. With separable verbs, ge- goes between the separable prefix and the stem, not in front of the whole word. The result for einkaufen is eingekauft, not «geeinkauft».
Three sentences, graded here. Nothing is saved and no account is needed.
Im Urlaub habe ich viele Sehenswürdigkeiten ___. (fotografieren)
Fill in the blank with the correct past participle of the verb in parentheses.