German grammar

German Perfect Tense

The German perfect tense often uses haben or sein plus a past participle.

Examples

Ich habe Kaffee getrunken.

I drank coffee.

haben plus participle is common in speech.

Wir sind nach Hause gefahren.

We drove home.

motion verbs often use sein.

Lara hat die Antwort gelesen.

Lara read the answer.

gelesen is the past participle.

Common mistake

Trying to translate every English past tense with one German form.