Irregular past participles
It鈥檚 a good idea to learn as many irregular past participles as possible. This list will get you started:
Hilfsvokabeln 鈥 Helpful vocabulary
- bleiben 鈥 to stay > ich bin geblieben 鈥 I stayed
- essen 鈥 to eat > ich habe gegessen 鈥 I ate
- fahren 鈥 to travel/go > ich bin gefahren 鈥 I travelled/went
- gehen 鈥 to go > ich bin gegangen 鈥 I went
- lesen 鈥 to read > ich habe gelesen 鈥 I read
- schreiben 鈥 to write > ich habe geschrieben 鈥 I wrote
- sehen 鈥 to see/watch > ich habe gesehen 鈥 I saw/watched
- trinken 鈥 to drink > ich habe getrunken 鈥 I drank
You will see that as with regular past participles ge- is added to the beginning, but while the -en or -n endings remain, the vowel sounds within the main verb often change, eg
- schreiben - to write > geschrieben - wrote
Here the ei > ie
- trinken - to drink > getrunken - drunk
Here the i > u
Question
How would you write these sentences in German?
- I went to Germany.
- I drank lemonade.
- I read a newspaper.
- I ate 厂辫盲迟锄濒别.
- I went on foot.
- Ich bin nach Deutschland gefahren.
- Ich habe Limonade getrunken.
- Ich habe eine Zeitung gelesen.
- Ich habe 厂辫盲迟锄濒别 gegessen.
- Ich bin zu Fuss gegangen.
Did you know?
厂辫盲迟锄濒别 are a typical type of noodle made with flour and cooked by pouring the mixture through something that looks very much like grater 鈥 厂辫盲迟锄濒别hobel. The word 厂辫盲迟锄濒别 comes from the word for 'sparrow' 鈥 Spatz + the diminutive form -le. When the noodles were formed by hand in the olden days, their shape often resembled tiny sparrows.
The noodles are usually short and fat and served with a variety of meat dishes instead of chips or potatoes. Sometimes they're served on their own with fried onions and cheese melted over them. This dish is known as 碍盲蝉别蝉辫盲迟锄濒别. Delicious 鈥 lecker.