What do we use the German perfect tense to express?

Question 1

Tell me about the Perfect Tense.

Answer 1

The perfect tense, also called present perfect (Perfekt), is a past tense. We use it to speak about actions completed in the recent past. In spoken German, the present perfect tense is often used instead of the past tense. We can translate the perfect tense using the English simple past tense.

Question 2

1. What do we use the German perfect tense to express?

Answer 2

A completed action in the past with the focus on the result of the action.
Example: Gestern hat Michael sein Büro aufgeräumt/Yesterday, Micheal cleaned his office
Result: the office is clean now

Question 3

2. What do we use the German perfect tense to express?

Answer 3

An action that will be completed by a certain point in the future.
Example: Bis nächste Woche hat er das bestimmt wieder vergessen./By next week he’ll surely have forgotten this again.
The point in the future must be specifically designated, otherwise we use the future perfect.

Question 4

Tell me about the use of haben and sein in the perfect tense.

Answer 4

The verbs haben and sein are used as auxiliary or helping verbs in the perfect tense.