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| 1. Description of the Partizip 2. How to form the german Partizip I & II 3. How to make sentences with the Partizip 4. How to use the Partizips as substantive nouns |
The Particip I & II of german verbs correspond to the present continuous and past participle form of English verbs. These verb-forms are used to make the present continuous and past participle tense respectively in both German and English and are often used as adjectives and substantive nouns in a sentence. In German, the present continuous tense is the same as the present tense of the verb and unlike the Partizip II, Partizip I is not a tense. This is of course not the same as in English. The Partizip I & II of all german verbs are usually derived from their infinitive present tense. This is illustrated below.
Apart from being used as adjectives, the Partizip II is used to make the perfect tense as well as the passive voice in german.
How to form the Partizip I of german verbs
In English , the Partizip I (present continuous tense) is formed by adding the suffix “-ing” to the verb. For example; “spend” in the partizip I becomes “spending”. This is of course not used for conjugation, rather it always require an auxiliary verb which is the conjugated to the subject. For instance; “I am spending…”, “She is eating…” and never “I spending…” etc.
On the other hand, the Partizip I of a german verb is formed by adding a “d” at the end of the infinitive (unconjugated) present tense verb. Some examples of these derivatives are shown below.
| Infinitive | Partizip I | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| spielen sagen gratulieren sprechen ausbilden ausstehen aufsetzen stehen kommen singen tanzen gehen schlafen weinen verkaufen gehören bringen kochen steigen wissen studieren reden | spielend sagend gratulierend sprechend ausbildend ausstehend aufsetzen stehend kommend singend tanzend gehend schlafend weinend verkaufend gehörend bringend kochend steigend wissend studierend redend | playing saying congratulating speaking training outstanding laying out standing coming singen dancing going sleeping crying selling belonging bringing cooking stepping knowing studying talking |
How to use the Partizip I as adjectives
Just like every other adjective, Partizip I when placed before a noun, must have an adjectival end-declension. The difference between this category of german adjectives from the rest is that they are used to indicate that something is still on going. Take for instance “das weinende Baby”, in English this means the crying baby. In a nut shell, this is indicating that the baby is still crying or cries very often. See more examples below
| German | Translation |
|---|---|
| 1. Wo ist the Mutter von diesem weinenden Baby? 2. Du hast ein ausstehendes Ergebnis. 3. Ich möchte dich am kommenden Wochenende besuchen. 4. Das ist ein singender Mann | Where is the mother of this crying baby? You have an outstanding result. I would like to visit you in the coming weekend. That is a singing man. |
How to form the Partizip II of german verbs
The partizip II of german verbs is formed differently for the various categories of german verbs but they are mostly formed with the prefix ge- except the categories of inseparable verbs and those verbs that end with -ieren. The weak/regemäßige and mixed verbs (with stem vowel change to “-a-” except wissen) as well as verbs that end with the suffix -ieren are formed by conjugating the verb to the third person subject and then the prefix ge- is attached.
Strong verbs on the other hand form their Partizip II by changing the stem vowel in their first syllable before the prefix ge- is attached. Since separable and inseparable verbs have their root verbs as either weak, strong or mixed verbs, their Partizip II is formed likewise except that for separable verbs, the prefix ge- is placed in between the prefix and the root verb while that of inseparable doesn’t take a prefix.
The auxiliary and modal verbs are irregularly formed but also take on the prefix ge-. See a list of these examples below.
| Regemäßige and mixed Verben | Unregelmäßige Verben | Trennbare Verben | Untrennbare and -ieren Verben | Auxiliary and Modal verbs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| geweint gemacht gespielt gehört gefeiert gemalt gesucht gerannt gebracht gebrannt gewusst geholt genannt | geschrieben gezogen gefahren gestohlen gegessen gesessen geflogen gebissen geschnitten geblieben gesungen gegangen gekommen | ausgeholt angemacht angefangen angestiegen abgegeben vorgehabt weggeschmissen nachgedacht zugehört aufgestanden weggefahren eingesetzt umgezogen | studiert vermisst verkauft zerschnitten begonnen gehört bezahlt bekommen interessiert telefoniert missbraucht vermeidet besucht | gehabt gekonnt gewesen geworden getan gemusst gewollt gesollt gedurft gemocht |
How to make sentences with Partizip II
| German | English |
|---|---|
| 1. Bitte schmeiß die geöffnete Briefe weg. 2. Where is the frozen cake? 3. Du hast eine Packung geschnittenen Lauch gekauft. | 1. Please discard the read letters. 2. Wo ist der gefrorene Kuchen? You bought a packet of sliced leek |
Partizip I and II as substantive nouns
Apart from being used as adjectives, the Partizip I and II of german verbs are used to form masculine and feminine nouns (der/die) of people only by adding ”-e/-er/-en” (depending on the preceding article and grammatical case) at the end. To use them as substantive nouns, they are capitalized at the initials and are used alone instead of them being used to describe another noun. Some examples are;
| German | Literal translation | Alternative meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Studierende Verwandte Angestellte Reisende Bekannte Verletzte | Studying person Related person Employed person Traveling person Known person Injured person | Student Relative Employee Traveler Acquaintance Injured |
| German | English |
|---|---|
| 1. Ich bin der Angestellte 2. Hast du den Reisenden gesehen, der nach Berlin fährt. 3. Die Lehrerin hat mit allen Studierenden gesprochen. | 1. Please discard the read letters. 2. Wo ist der gefrorene Kuchen? You bought a packet of sliced leek |
To learn more about how substantive nouns are formed with adjectives see here.
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