The German Partizip 2 – Forms & Usage

In this article, you will find everything need to know about the German Partizip 2: its usage (Perfekt, passive and as an adjective), how it’s formed and the most important irregular forms.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the Partizip 2! This words comes up a lot in every German class and course book. Most importantly, you need it to form sentences in the past tense. In this article, you will learn how to form and use the Partizip 2.

The English equivalent is the past participle: done, driven, gone, repaired are some examples.

Usage: 3 main functions of the Partizip 2

Perfekt

By combining a Partizip 2 form with the auxiliary “haben” (or at times “sein”) you will get the German Perfekt tense, the most common past tense: It is the form that we use in spoken German with almost all verbs. In its form is very similar to the English present perfect (The child has done …).

*Perfekt tense:
(1) Das Kind hat seine Hausaufgaben gemacht.
The child did (or: has done) his homework.

*There is also the Plusquamperfekt (Das Kind hatte … gemacht.) and the Konjunktiv 2 of the past (Das Kind hätte … gemacht.).

Passiv

By combining these past participle forms with auxiliary “werden” you can make use of the passive voice in German. This type of passive form is called the Handlungspassiv. Please note that there is a second type of passive voice: the Zustandspassiv (“sein” +Partizip 2).

Passiv:
(2) Das Fenster wird repariert.
The window is repaired (every now and then). / The window is being repaired (right now).

In front of nouns (as adjectives)

There is a third function: You can also use Partizip 2 forms as adjectives, i.e. in front of nouns. In example (3) we have the adjective schwierig with the adjective ending (“er” in this case). Instead of a “normal” adjective, we can use a Partizip 2 form (4) , much like in English, to give more information about the noun. Note that these forms need the same endings (according the Adjektivdeklination), just like “normal” adjectives (“er” in this case).

(3) ein schwieriger Text
a difficult text

(4) ein geschriebener Text
a written text

Regular Partizip 2 forms

The regular verbs, in German they are also called “weak verbs” (schwache Verben). With those all you need to do is take the stem (infinitive minus “en”) and add “ge” to the beginning and a “t” to the end:

More examples:
spielen -> gespielt
lachen -> gelacht
kochen -> gekocht
warten -> gewartet*

*If the verb stem ends with -t, or -d, you have to add “et” instead of just the “t”. E.g.: warten -> gewartet

Partizip 2 forms of separable verbs

Separable verbs have prefixes that get separated from the verbs in main clauses (e.g. Ich rufe dich an. / I call you.). With these verbs the “ge” doesn’t appear at the beginning of the Partizip 2 form, but right after the prefix. You need a “t” again at the end for regular verbs*.

More examples:
aufwachen -> aufgewacht
einpacken -> eingepackt
mitspielen -> mitgespielt
aufmachen -> aufgemacht
zumachen -> zugemacht

*Please note: Separable verbs can also be irregular. More on this later.

Partizip 2 forms verbs with inseparable prefixes

There are also verbs with prefixes that are not separable. These verbs do not have “ge” in their past participle forms at all. The prefixes that are never separable are:

ver-, ge-, er-, be-, ent-, miss-, zer-, emp-

begrüßen -> begrüßt (not: *begegrüßt!)
vermissen -> vermisst
gewinnen -> *gewonnen*

*This is the first irregular past participle form in the article. More in this later.

Verbs that end in “ieren”

Just like verbs in the last section (prefix verbs, but not separable), the verbs that end in “ieren” do not have “ge” in their Partizip 2 forms either. They always get a “t” at the end.

reparieren -> repariert (not: *gerepariert!)
studieren -> studiert
informieren -> informiert

BTW: These words are often Latinates (words derived from Latin or from a Romance language) that are often very similar in other languages you might now (e.g. English).

Irregular Partizip 2 forms

Irregular Partizip 2 forms (starke Verben, i.e. “strong verbs”) do not end in a “t” and/or change their vowel(s) and/or change their stem completely. They simply don’t follow the rules we’ve seen in the article thus far. They have to be memorized by heart (just like in English) and it’s good practice to always try to learn new verbs together with their past participle form. Here are some very important irregular forms:

essen -> gegessen
trinken -> getrunken
schreiben -> geschrieben
kommen -> gekommen
fahren -> gefahren

Tips for the irregular verbs

I know that this can look a bit intimidating. Here are some tips that will speed up your progress immediately:

1. Look for patterns: e.g. singen, sang gesungen & finden, fand gefunden
   You can see the same vowel changes here (i -> a -> u), sometimes even in English (cf. sing, sang, sung)! “Sang” and “fand” are Präteritum forms, the other German past tense which is used with some verbs and in formal/literary German.
   
2. Learn one verb, know 20!
   kommen, gekommen & ankommen, angekommen (separable)
   finden, gefunden & erfinden, erfunden (not separable)
   With these verbs (with prefixes) the stem and the ending of the Partizip 2 form will be the same as in their counterpart without the prefix. With or without “ge”? This depends on whether it’s a seprable verb or not (cf. above).
   
3. ei -> ie….en
   The verbs that have “ei” in their infinitive often reverse these two vowels to “ie” and get “en” at the end: e.g. schreiben, geschrieben – bleiben, geblieben – leihen, geliehen

Most important irregular Partizip 2 forms (list)

I have included the Präteritum forms here as well.

Infinitive form	Stem Change present tense	English translation	Präteritum form	Partizip 2 +auxiliary
backen	(a -> ä)	bake	backte, (buk)	hat gebacken
befehlen	e -> ie	command, order	befahl	hat befohlen
beginnen		begin	begann	hat begonnen
beißen		bite	biss	hat gebissen
bieten		offer	bot	hat geboten
bitten		ask for, request	bat	hat gebeten
braten	a -> ä	fry	briet	hat gebraten
brennen		burn	brannte	hat gebrannt
bringen		bring	brachte	hat gebacht
denken		think	dachte	hat gedacht
empfehlen	e -> ie	recommend	empfahl	hat empfohlen
essen	e -> i	eat	aß	hat gegessen
fahren	a -> ä	drive; go	fuhr	ist gefahren
fangen	a -> ä	catch	fing	hat gefangen
fliegen		fly	flog	ist geflogen
geben	e -> i	give	gab	hat gegeben
gehen		go	ging	ist gegangen
genießen		enjoy	genoss	hat genossen
gewinnen		win	gewann	hat gewonnen
haben	irregular!	have	hatte	hat gehabt
halten	a -> ä	hold	hielt	hat gehalten
heißen		“be called”	hieß	hat geheißen
helfen	e -> i	help	half	hat geholfen
kennen		know	kannte	hat gekannt
kommen		come	kam	ist gekommen
lassen	a -> ä	let; leave	ließ	hat gelassen hat [Inf.] lassen
laufen	a -> ä	walk	lief	ist gelaufen
leiden		suffer	litt	hat gelitten
leihen		borrow; lend	lieh	hat geliehen
lesen	e -> ie	read	las	hat gelesen
liegen		lie (on a couch)	lag	hat gelegen
lügen		lie (not speak truth)	log	hat gelogen
nehmen	ehm -> imm	take	nahm	hat genommen
nennen		call	nannte	hat genannt
raten	a -> ä	guess	riet	hat geraten
rennen		run	rannte	ist gerannt
rufen		shout	rief	hat gerufen
scheinen		appear; shine	schien	hat geschienen
schießen		shoot	schoss	hat geschossen
schlafen	a -> ä	sleep	schlief	hat geschlafen
schließen		close	schloss	hat geschlossen
schneiden		cut	schnitt	hat geschnitten
schreiben		write	schrieb	hat geschrieben
schreien		scream	schrie	hat geschrien
schwimmen		swim	schwamm	hat/ist geschwommen
sehen	e -> ie	see	sah	hat gesehen
sein	irregular!	be	war	ist gewesen
singen		sing	sang	hat gesungen
sitzen		sit	saß	hat gesessen
sprechen	e -> i	speak	sprach	hat gesprochen
stehen		stand	stand	hat gestanden
stehlen	e -> ie	steal	stahl	hat gestohlen
steigen		rise; ascend	stieg	ist gestiegen
sterben	e -> i	die	starb	ist gestorben
streiten		fight, quarrel	stritt	hat gestritten
tragen	a -> ä	carry; wear	trug	hat getragen
treffen	e -> i	meet	traf	hat getroffen
treiben		drive; do; engage in	trieb	hat getrieben
trinken		drink	trank	hat getrunken
tun		do	tat	hat getan
vergessen	e -> i	forget	vergaß	hat vergessen
verlieren		lose	verlor	hat verloren
wachsen	a -> ä	grow	wuchs	ist gewachsen
waschen	a -> ä	wash	wusch	hat gewaschen
werden	irregular!	become	wurde	ist geworden ist [Part. 2] worden
werfen	e -> i	throw	warf	hat geworfen
wissen	irregular!	know	wusste	hat gewusst
ziehen		pull; move (house)	zog	hat gezogen ist gezogen (move)
zwingen		force	zwang	hat gezwungen

Notes:

• Same changes for the verbs with prefixes! So, instead of looking up (and memorizing) anrufen (to call), you can simply look up (and memorize) the prefix-less “mother verb” rufen (to shout): rufen, rief, hat gerufen -> an|rufen, rief an, hat angerufen
  
• I haven’t included the modal verbs here. You will rarely need their Partizip 2 forms!
  
• In spoken German with almost all of these verbs, the Perfekt tense is used a lot more often. The Präteritum (with most verbs) sounds very formal, official or literary.

Further reading: You can read my article on the passive voice, where I show you all relevant tenses and forms that all use the Partizip 2 form as well: Passive Voice In German (Part 2) – All tenses

• Are Partizip 2 forms something you’ve been struggling with?
• Do you have any tips for your fellow learners of German?
• Or maybe you have a question on the matter? Feel free to write a comment!