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Perfekt or Präteritum?

Perfekt and Präteritum are two past tenses. Both describe something that already happened, and their meaning is almost the same. The difference is where people use them: in speech or in writing.

The basic rule

In speech, people almost always use the Perfekt: Er hat das Buch gelesen. (He read the book.) The form doesn't depend on when it happened: yesterday or last year.

In written stories, people usually use Präteritum: Er las das Buch. (He read the book.) Books, newspaper articles, fairy tales and formal reports are written like this.

Both sentences mean the same thing. You choose the form by whether you speak or write a connected story.

The exception: haben, sein and the modal verbs

For haben, sein and the modal verbs (können, müssen, wollen, dürfen, sollen, mögen), people usually use Präteritum even in speech. For example, Ich war müde. (I was tired.) sounds natural. Ich bin müde gewesen. is also correct, but in northern and central Germany it sounds heavy. The short forms war, hatte and konnte are easier to say, so people choose them in conversation.

In southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland, people speak differently. People there rarely use Präteritum in speech, even for sein and haben. The southern dialects lost this form several centuries ago. So Wir sind gestern im Kino gewesen. (We were at the movies yesterday.) sounds natural there. Both forms are correct. If you say war and hatte yourself, people will understand you everywhere. But don't be surprised when you hear ich bin gewesen.

Learn this exception separately from the basic rule: "Perfekt when you speak, Präteritum when you write".

Why learn both forms

Even if you almost always speak in the Perfekt, you need Präteritum. It's the main past tense in books, articles and news, so you meet it in most of what you read. Also, haben, sein and the modal verbs use Präteritum in conversation too. The bot practices both forms for the same irregular verbs. For more, see "German irregular verbs".

Exercises

Practice the forms of Präteritum and Partizip II. You form the Perfekt with Partizip II.

You can find more exercises on this topic in the Telegram bot @ImmerWiederholenBot. The bot saves your progress and reminds you when it's time to review.

See also