Past Participle in German: Conjugation and Explanation

12/09/2025 Learning & Grammer created by Sprachcaffe Team

A guide to using the past participle in German and its translation | When learning a new language, one of the most challenging topics is always grammar. And when it comes to German, verbs are a major hurdle to overcome, as they conjugate in a completely different way than we're used to. The German past participle, in particular, proves to be a very difficult topic, due to the multitude of ways to form it depending on the case.

No problem, though: today here on Sprachcaffe, we'll delve deeper into the topic of the past participle in German and discover how it's formed, when to use it, and where to place it in a sentence. To make it easier for you to understand, we'll also provide translations and examples.

German Past Participle: How is it used?

The past participle in German corresponds exactly to our past participle , and is therefore used to translate verbs such as "spoken," "eaten," "ran," and so on. This verb tense can be used in various ways, and is primarily used to form compound tenses such as:

Perfekt : is a German past tense used to express actions that occurred at a time before the one being spoken, whether more or less distant. In Italian, we translate it with the passato prossimo or the passato remoto , depending on the context in which it is used.

Examples :
Ich habe gerade gegessen. = I have just finished eating.

Du hast in Paris gelebt . = You lived in Paris.

Future 2 : corresponds to our future perfect , and is used to express a time following a time already in the future. Another application of the future perfect is to express suppositions and predictions.

Examples :
Im Sommer wirst du dein studium beendet haben . = You will have already finished your studies in the summer.
In one country we will have a real gem . = In a few months we will have made a fortune.

Plusquamperfekt : This is a past tense that is even more past, used to express an action that occurred before another past tense. There is only one of these, but in Italian we translate them with two different verb tenses depending on the situation: the pluperfect perfect or pluperfect remote .

Examples :
Sara hatte gegessen , bevor sie zu uns kam. = Sara had eaten before joining us.
Wir hatten es vermutet . = We had guessed right.

This, however, is not the only use of the past participle in German. In fact, it is very often used as an adjective , which is indeed the case in Italian as well, so much so that some participles have lost their verbal function and remain in the language only as adjectives.

There are two cases here. It can be used as:

Attributive adjective , and in this case it is declined as if it were an adjective .
Adjective used as a noun , and in this case it is declined as if it were a noun .

Here are some examples of participles used as adjectives:

Sie brachten den Verwundeten ins Krankenhaus. = They took the injured to the hospital.

Ihr Geliebter war für sie da. = Her beloved was right there for her.

Insgesamt gab es weniger als 1.000 Überlebende . = Overall, there were fewer than 1000 survivors .

The formation of the German past participle isn't actually that complex, but what can be intimidating is the difference from Italian. Those who have studied Ancient Greek or Latin will notice similarities in the formation, especially the presence of prefixes, which we don't use in Italian.

However, the formation is different depending on the type of verb we're dealing with. For regular verbs (more commonly called weak verbs ), the past participle in German is formed by adding the prefix -ge before the verb stem and the suffix -t at the end. Therefore, we must start from the infinitive verb and derive its stem:

ge + root + t

hab en → ge hab t(have → had)

h ö r en → ge h ö r t (listen → heard)

Be careful, though: the rule may vary slightly depending on the characteristics of the verbs, even the weak ones!

We see that, for example, in the case of verbs ending with -t, -d, -m and -n , the past participle is formed with the prefix -ge in front of the verb stem and the suffix -et at the end, for ease of pronunciation.

ge + root + et

atm en → ge atm et (breathe → breathed)

arbeit en → ge arbeit et (to work → worked)

zeichn en → ge zeichn et (to draw → drawn)

With verbs ending in -ieren , however, the prefix -ge is not used. For this reason, identifying this type of verb tense at first glance can be a little more difficult than with other verbs, because it isn't very different from the infinitive:

root + t

studier en → studier t (study → studied)

frappier en → frappier t (impress → impressed)

German Past Participle: Formation for Strong and Mixed Verbs

Let's now move on to the formation of the past participle in German for irregular verbs , also called strong verbs . There is no real rule-as we might expect, after all-but there are some common cases. Sometimes they take the prefix -ge , other times not, but they have in common the absence of the suffix: the final -t is never added . Some irregular verbs, moreover, modify the root vowel . In particular, this situation often occurs:

and → or
i → u / o
ei → ie / i

There's no way to learn them all: you have to memorize the paradigms! But let's look at a few examples, just to understand how the participle formation of strong verbs works:

bef and hln → bef or hlen (sort → ordered)

b i tten → geb e ten (pray → prayed)

br e chen → gebr a nnt (break → broken)

essen → gegessen (eat → eaten)

verli and ren → verl or ren (lose → lost)

Mixed verbs also present some differences from the standard formation: they are irregular German weak verbs, which to form the participle add both the prefix -ge and the suffix -t , but at the same time change the root vowel .

ge + root with vowel change + t

send → sent ( send → sent )

n e nnen → ge nn a nd t (call → called)

Modal verbs behave the same way:

können → ge könn t (could → could)

wollen → ge woll t (want → wanted)

While the formation of the past participle for verbs of motion is as follows:

ge + root + en

fahr en → ge fahr en (go → gone)

German Past Participle for Separable and Inseparable Verbs

Finally, let's look at the difference in past participle formation between separable and inseparable verbs.

Separable verbs- also called compound verbs -add -ge between their prefix and the verb stem, and also add -t or -en at the end . The prefix they already have, "di natura," is important for understanding the meaning of the verb, and therefore must remain in first position. For this reason, -ge should be placed directly after the preexisting prefix.

prefix + ge + root + en

ab fahr en → ab ge fahr en (to leave → to leave)

ein kauf en → ein ge kauf t (do the shopping → done the shopping)

Inseparable verbs , on the other hand, are all those verbs that begin with -ge, -miss, -emp, -ent, -be, -ver, -zer and -er , and for ease of pronunciation do not add the prefix -ge.

prefix + root + en

emp fang en → emp fing en (receive → received)

Where is the German Past Participle placed in the sentence?

f the past participle represents a compound tense element within the sentence, then it will be positioned differently depending on the type of subordinate clause or verb tense.

In a main clause , it goes at the end of the sentence .

Ich habe dir ein Omelett gemacht . = I made you an omelette.

Gestern bist du zu spät von der Arbeit zurückgekommen . = Yesterday you came home late from work.

In a subordinate clause , its place is before the auxiliary or the infinitive .

I know, that's a new car . = I think he bought a new car.

With the future perfect , it always goes before the infinitive .

Sie werden bereits erfolgreich gewesen sein. = You will have already been successful.
If it is used to form the passive , it should be placed at the end of the sentence .

Das letzte Wort ist gesprochen . = The last word has been said.

It can be cumbersome and complicated to figure out where to insert it, especially in spoken language, and this can only be solved with lots of practice.

By taking a German course in Germany , for example: not only will you study German with native teachers, but you'll also have the opportunity to interact with locals and make new friends with whom you can interact and converse. Lots of linguistic practice is the most effective way to make even the most convoluted rules seem natural.

When the past participle plays the role of an adjective , it always precedes the noun to which it refers. Examples:

A friendly friend is for immersion. = A friend found is forever.
The broken cup is in the garbage. = The broken cup is in the garbage.
Your broken heart needs chocolate. = Your broken heart needs chocolate.

By the end of the day, you'll have realized that learning the past participle in German isn't all that impossible. In fact, with the right study method, it takes very little to get the hang of it. In no time, you'll be able to identify and recognize any type of past participle, even the most irregular and unusual ones.

A tip? Since this verb tense is characterized by so many irregularities in German, whenever you encounter a past participle that doesn't conform to standard formation, immediately note it on a dedicated sheet of paper. By writing down any new irregular participles you encounter, they won't cause problems for future readings because you'll have already memorized them.

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