Participle in German
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HideWhat is the participle in German?
There are two kinds of participles in the German language,
- the present participle (participle I) and
- the past participle (participle II)
Both forms can be used to avoid subclauses or to create attributive adjective, but especially the participle II has a wide variety of uses.
Here you have a quick overview of the uses of the German participle
| Participle 1 | Participle 2 |
|---|---|
Expressing simultaneous actions Example: "Musik hörend tanze ich" (I am dancing listening to music" | expressing action happening after another Example: "Meine Hausaufgaben gemacht entspannte ich mich" (Having made my homework I relaxed) |
Building of attributive adjectives Example: "Ich sehe das an der Wand hängende Bild" (I see the on the wall hanging picture) | Building of attributive adjectives Example: "Ich koche in der geputzten Küche" (I am cooking in the cleaned kitchen) |
| / | Building of the tenses present perfect, past perfect and future II |
| / | Building of the passive form Example: "Ich wurde eingeladen" (I was invited) |
In the following two chapters you learn everything in detail about the two German participles, afterwards you can test your knowledge with our exercises!
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