Perfekt or Präteritum? Which German past tense to use

German has two everyday past tenses, and in most cases they mean the same thing. The Perfekt (ich habe gemacht) is the past tense of speaking: you use it in conversation, on the phone and in messages. The Präteritum (ich machte) is the past tense of writing: news, reports, novels and written stories. The big exception is a small group of very common verbs, above all sein, haben and the modal verbs, which stay in the Präteritum even when you speak: ich war, ich hatte, ich musste.

#What is the difference between Perfekt and Präteritum?

In English the choice between "I have worked" and "I worked" changes the meaning. In German it mostly does not. These two sentences describe exactly the same evening:

The first is what you say to a colleague the next morning. The second is what you would read in a written account. So the question is not "when did it happen?" but "am I speaking or writing, and which verb is it?"

#How do you form the Perfekt?

The Perfekt has two parts: a form of haben or sein in second position, and the past participle (Partizip II) at the end of the clause.

Most verbs take haben. Verbs of movement from one place to another and verbs of change take sein, as in ich bin gefahren or er ist eingeschlafen. The full rule, with the exceptions, is in haben or sein in the Perfekt.

The participle of a regular verb is ge- + stem + -t: machen becomes gemacht, kaufen becomes gekauft. Irregular verbs usually end in -en and often change their vowel: schreiben becomes geschrieben, trinken becomes getrunken. Verbs with an inseparable prefix and verbs ending in -ieren have no ge-: bezahlt, verstanden, telefoniert.

#How do you form the Präteritum?

Regular verbs add -te to the stem, plus a personal ending. Most irregular verbs change their vowel and take no -te.

Notice that the ich form and the er form are always the same in the Präteritum. The irregular stems have to be learnt one by one, but the ones you meet every day are a manageable list: see German irregular verbs.

#Which verbs use the Präteritum in spoken German?

This is the part that makes you sound natural. A handful of verbs are so frequent that their Perfekt feels long and clumsy, so speakers in most of Germany use the short Präteritum instead.

• sein: ich war, not usually ich bin gewesen
• haben: ich hatte, not usually ich habe gehabt
• the modal verbs: ich konnte, ich musste, ich wollte, ich durfte, ich sollte
• a few others: es gab (there was), ich wusste (I knew), ich dachte (I thought), ich fand (I found, in the sense of an opinion)

In one sentence you can easily mix both tenses: Ich hatte keine Zeit, deshalb habe ich nicht angerufen (I didn't have time, so I didn't call). That is completely normal German. There is more on the modal verbs and their past forms in German modal verbs.

#When do you use the Präteritum in writing?

Open a German newspaper or a novel and the Präteritum is everywhere. It keeps a written account short and flowing, so it is the normal tense for stories, news reports, police reports, minutes of a meeting and biographies.

You need to recognise these forms from A2 onwards, because you will read them long before you need to produce them. In your own emails and messages, write as you speak: the Perfekt, with sein, haben and the modals in the Präteritum.

#Does it depend on where you are?

It does, a little. In northern Germany you will hear the Präteritum of other verbs in speech more often, for example ich kam or wir fuhren. In the south of Germany, in Austria and in Switzerland, speakers lean even more strongly towards the Perfekt, and in the local dialects the Präteritum has almost disappeared, so even ich bin gewesen is common there. Both are correct. As a learner, the middle path in this guide will sound natural everywhere.

What about the Plusquamperfekt?

When you tell a story in the past and need to go one step further back, German uses the Plusquamperfekt: hatte or war plus the participle.

It works in speech and in writing alike, and it follows the same haben or sein choice as the Perfekt.

#How does Linota help with the past tenses?

When you tap a verb in Linota, its study note shows the past forms, so a word like fahren comes with fuhr and ist gefahren attached. The Reading room gives you short texts at your level where the Präteritum appears in its natural home, and in Say it yourself you see an English sentence about yesterday and say it in German, then compare. That mix of reading the written past and speaking the spoken past is exactly what this topic needs.

#The short version

• Speaking and messages: the Perfekt for most verbs (ich habe gekauft, ich bin gefahren).
• Writing, news and stories: the Präteritum (ich kaufte, ich fuhr).
• Usually short, even in speech: ich war, ich hatte, ich musste, es gab.
• The two tenses mean the same thing; the English difference between "I did" and "I have done" does not carry over.
• Further back in the past: the Plusquamperfekt (ich hatte gemacht).

Next, settle the auxiliary question with haben or sein in the Perfekt, or browse more verbs and tenses.