Perfect tensePast participles without 'ge-' at the start

Some verbs don’t add ge- to the beginning to form a past participle.

The reasons for this could be one of the following:

• they end in –ieren, eg studieren > studiert (however, apart from not starting with ge-, these verbs are regular)
• they start with an inseparable prefix such as be-, ent-, er- or ver-, eg verstehen > verstanden
• the main verb already starts with ge-, eg gewinnen (to win) > gewonnen (won)

Examples in use

• Sie hat 100.000 € gewonnen. - She won €100,000.
• Wir haben nichts verstanden.- We understood nothing.
• Mein Bruder hat in Passau studiert. - My brother studied in Passau.

Separable verbs

Separable verbs consist of two parts - a main verb and a preposition, eg:

• auf + räumen > aufräumen (to tidy up)
• an + ziehen > anziehen (to put on)
• auf + stehen > aufstehen (to get up)

In English, we leave both parts separate in the past tense:

• he tidied his room up
• she put her coat on

In German, both parts have to be put back together to make the past participle, with ge- sandwiched in between, rather than added to the beginning as with regular and irregular past participles, eg:

• ich habe dich angerufen - I called you
• ich habe ferngesehen - I watched television