Ich habe eine Reisepass.
Ich habe eine Reisepass gehabt.
Is the second sentence correct?
Is there any rule that tells you how to conjugate the second verb at the end of the sentence, or does each verb have its own rule? I know that you must put a "ge" in front of the 2nd verb to indicate that it is in the past tense. But is there any rule as to conjugate the end of the 2nd verb? Because I have noticed that some 2nd past tense verbs end in "en" and "t". I hope you can understand what I am talking about. Viele Dank!
2007-02-02 16:08:41 · 5 answers · asked by Lonestar 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
It depends on what you are trying to say. The first sentence is in the present tense and the second is in the past. They are both right. The only way to know how to conjugate the last verb is to memorize the past tense of every verb. This sounds difficult, but it really isn't that hard. Once you get to memorizing some of them you can kind of guess on new ones by the way they are spelled or the way that it sounds when you say it. It will either sound right or not. I hope that helps. Do you also know that for some verbs in the past tense you use "sein" instead of "haben"? You use sein when the verb is showing a change of location or condition. Good luck!
2007-02-02 16:23:22 · answer #1 · answered by ashlea729 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are asking questions about the Present Perfect system in German. The present perfect system uses either the verb haben or sein with the correct conjugation as the first verb (called the auxiliary verb) along with the past participle, or the second verb. Here is where things get tricky. If the past participle conveys motion, use sein. If it doesn't use haben. Also, weak verbs use the -t ending, while the ending to a strong verb is -en. The stem can also change in strong verbs so you will just have to memorize them.
But that's not it! Also it is important to note that if a weak verb's past participle ends in t already, the paste participle will at an e between the two t's so the ending will look like "-tet."
Now, some past participles don't have the ge- prefix. Why is this? Here is the rule: if the verb begins with be- emp- ent- er- ge- miss- ver- ser- or ends in -ieren then you don't add the ge- prefix. This is best remembered with the rhyme "be emp ent er, ge miss ver ser, i-e-r-e-n.
viel Glück
2007-02-02 16:32:27 · answer #2 · answered by Me! hooray 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Firstly the gender of " Reisepass " is masculine.
So, in your sentences the word is a direct object.
Ich habe einen Reisepass.
Ich habe einen Reisepass gehabt.
You are asking about how to make the perfect tense in German.
In English this is like saying:
I have eaten.
I have watched.
I have seen.
In English the second verb ( past participle ) has many different patterns which you have to learn. German is the same.
haben - Ich habe gehabt
essen - Ich habe gegessen
sehen - Ich habe gesehen
machen - ich habe gemacht
Have you learned yet that some verbs take "sein" as their auxiliary verb in the perfect tense. Again, you just have to learn them.
gehen - Ich bin gegangen
schwimmen - Ich bin geschwommen
fahren - Ich bin gefahren.
German is a very complex language. Good luck with it !
Hals und Beinbruch !
2007-02-02 18:01:13 · answer #3 · answered by lizzie 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
The first one means you currently have a passport, the second one you had it but not anymore.
2007-02-02 16:55:00 · answer #4 · answered by Speck Schnuck 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Type in "German Dictionary" in your search engine, it'll take you to a few different sites and two of them not only translate in words but they have voice translation too... My mother in law is German and I knew she said something "unfriendly" to me so I looked it up and lo and behold........... I was right. :)
2007-02-02 16:27:28 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋