Perfect tense: strong & mixed verbs with "haben" (gegessen, gesehen, gebracht)

You already know how to build the Perfekt with haben and form regular participles like gemacht and gelernt. But many common German verbs don't follow that regular ge- + stem + -t/-et pattern at all — their past participle is irregular. These forms are best learned as vocabulary; the -en vs. -t pattern below can still help you recognize them. This lesson covers many common irregular verbs that still use haben as their auxiliary (the ones that switch to sein instead are a separate topic).

Quick shortcut: irregular participles fall into two shapes — strong verbs end in -en and often change their stem vowel (trinken → getrunken), while mixed verbs keep the -t ending but change the stem, often including the vowel (bringen → gebracht). Both are worth learning as vocabulary alongside each verb.

Strong verbs: participle ends in -en

Strong verbs form their past participle with ge- + a form of the stem + -en, instead of -t. Many of them change their stem vowel along the way; some don't change at all — either way, there's no rule that predicts which vowel you'll get, so these need to be learned as vocabulary:

Several common strong verbs keep the same vowel in the participle — for example sehen, lesen, geben, tragen, and waschen above already do this. A couple more worth noting:

• rufen (to call) → gerufen: Ich habe dich gerufen. (I called you.)
• schlafen (to sleep) → geschlafen: Wir haben gut geschlafen. (We slept well.)

Mixed verbs: stem change, but the -t ending stays

A small set of high-frequency verbs has an irregular stem but still ends in the regular -t, not -en:

Verbs with an inseparable prefix: still no extra ge-

The rule from the previous lesson still applies here: verbs with an inseparable prefix (be-, ver-, er-, ent-, emp-, miss-, and the fossilized ge- in a few verbs) never add an extra ge-, whether their participle is regular or irregular. A number of very common irregular haben-verbs fall into this group:

Notice vergessen and bekommen look identical to their infinitive — that's not a coincidence, it's the inseparable-prefix rule at work: there was never a ge- to add in the first place.

Some of these verbs are also separable

If an irregular verb has a separable prefix instead, the two rules combine exactly as you'd expect: ge- goes between the prefix and the (irregular) stem, and the prefix stays attached in front:

• anrufen (from rufen, above) → angerufen: Ich habe dich angerufen. (I called you [on the phone].)
• einladen (from laden, to load) → eingeladen: Wir haben sie eingeladen. (We invited her.)
• anfangen (from fangen, to catch) → angefangen: Der Film hat angefangen. (The movie started.)

Common mistakes

• ❌ Ich habe Pizza geesst. → ✅ Ich habe Pizza gegessen. (the regular -t ending doesn't apply — essen is a strong verb with an irregular participle)
• ❌ Er hat Kaffee gedrinkt. → ✅ Er hat Kaffee getrunken. (no such regular form exists for trinken)
• ❌ Ich habe ihn früher gekennt. → ✅ Ich habe ihn früher gekannt. (kennen is a mixed verb: the stem changes from kenn- to kann-, even though the -t ending stays)
• ❌ Ich habe es gevergessen. → ✅ Ich habe es vergessen. (vergessen has an inseparable prefix, so it never gets an extra ge- — its participle looks exactly like the infinitive)
• ❌ Ich habe dich geanrufen. → ✅ Ich habe dich angerufen. (for a separable verb, ge- goes between the prefix and the stem, not in front of the whole word)

Quick check

Which participle is correct?

1. Ich habe ein Buch ____ (gelesen / gelest).
2. Er hat an dich ____ (gedenkt / gedacht).
3. Wir haben Kaffee ____ (getrinkt / getrunken).
4. Sie hat mir ein Geschenk ____ (gegeben / gegebt).
5. Ich habe dich gestern ____ (geanrufen / angerufen).
6. Ich habe es ____ (gevergessen / vergessen).

Key takeaways

• Strong verbs form their past participle as ge- + stem + -en, often with a stem-vowel change (trinken → getrunken, essen → gegessen); several keep the same vowel (sehen → gesehen, rufen → gerufen).
• Mixed verbs keep the -t ending but still change their stem (bringen → gebracht, kennen → gekannt).
• Verbs with an inseparable prefix (be-, ver-, er-, ent-, emp-, miss-) never add an extra ge-, whether their participle is regular or irregular: vergessen → vergessen, verstehen → verstanden.
• There's no rule that predicts these irregular forms from the infinitive — they're best learned as vocabulary alongside each verb, the same way English learners memorize go → gone, see → saw/seen.
• Separable prefixes still work the same way with irregular verbs: ge- goes between the prefix and the stem (anrufen → angerufen).
• All the verbs on this page use haben; a separate group of irregular verbs — mostly movement and change of state — uses sein instead.