Past participles of irregular verbs
A2 · Elementary · Cases & Verbs
The rule
Often ge-…-en with a stem change: gesehen, getrunken, gegessen.
How it works
Irregular (strong) verbs form their past participle with ge- and -en, and often change the stem vowel: sehen → gesehen, trinken → getrunken, essen → gegessen. The change is not predictable from the infinitive, so the safest method is to learn the infinitive, simple past and participle together, as in gehen – ging – gegangen.
When to use it
Form past participles of irregular verbs, which often have ge-…-en and a stem change.
Use cases
- Describing past meals and drinks: Wir haben Kaffee getrunken
- Talking about seeing things: Ich habe ihn gesehen
- Writing narratives in the perfect tense
Examples
- Wir haben Pizza gegessen – We ate pizza
- Er hat ein Buch gelesen. – He read a book.
- Wir sind mit dem Bus gefahren. – We went by bus.
- Hast du gut geschlafen? – Did you sleep well?
Common mistake
Adding -t to an irregular verb, for example "gesehent" instead of "gesehen".
Memory tip
Learn the participle with the infinitive and the simple past: sehen – sah – gesehen.
Read the wider picture in our guide: German Verbs and Word Order: Tenses, Modals and Sentence Structure.