Heißen in the Perfekt Tense in German

Introduction

Heißen means “to be called”, and this page covers exactly one thing: heißen in the Perfekt. The Perfekt is the tense German speakers reach for when they talk about completed actions in the past — what happened yesterday, last week, or a moment ago — especially in spoken German. On this page you will find the full Perfekt table for heißen, how the tense is formed for this verb, the situations where it is used, how it differs from the preterite, worked examples, the mistakes learners make most often, an eight-question quiz with explained answers, and answers to the questions students ask about heißen in the Perfekt. For example: “Ich habe Peter geheißen.” — “I have been called Peter.” Everything on this page uses the forms of heißen exactly as they are conjugated in the Perfekt, so you can trust every form you see here.

Heißen in the Perfekt Tense — full table

Person Form
ich habe geheißen
du hast geheißen
er/sie/es hat geheißen
wir haben geheißen
ihr habt geheißen
sie/Sie haben geheißen

Present participle: heißend · Past participle: geheißen

The present participle is heißend, which you use as an adjective for an ongoing action. The past participle is geheißen, which you use with haben in the perfect tenses: the ich form of the Perfekt is habe geheißen, used for a completed action. Keep both forms in mind as you read the examples below, because the Perfekt is only one part of how heißen is used.

How the Perfekt of heißen is formed

The Perfekt of heißen is formed with the auxiliary haben in the present plus the past participle geheißen: the auxiliary forms are ich habe, du hast, er/sie/es hat, wir haben, ihr habt, sie/Sie haben. Put the two parts together and you get the table above — for example, the ich form is habe geheißen and the sie form is haben geheißen. In a main clause the participle geheißen goes to the end of the clause, after the complement, exactly as the example sentences on this page show. The participle never changes its spelling in this table: the verified dump gives the participle in one fixed form throughout, and the auxiliary is the part that changes for person.

Because heißen takes haben as its auxiliary, the Perfekt is built the same way as for most German verbs: haben in the present, then geheißen. That is the first thing to check whenever you build a perfect tense with this verb: reach for haben, and then add geheißen.

The same participle geheißen appears in the pluperfect, the future perfect and the conditional perfect — only the auxiliary changes tense. Learn the pair “haben + geheißen” once and you have the key to all four perfect tenses of heißen.

When to use the Perfekt of heißen

The Perfekt is not a single-purpose tense. Below are the five situations where you will use heißen in the Perfekt most often. Each one comes with a real example, so read the rule, then say the example out loud.

1. To be called Peter — finished

When the action is over — Peter — the Perfekt is the tense to use. It presents the action as complete, with a clear end. Example: “Ich habe Peter geheißen.” — “I have been called Peter.”

2. To be called Maria — finished

The same rule applies to Maria: once the action is done, the Perfekt reports it as a completed fact. Example: “Du hast Maria geheißen.” — “You have been called Maria.”

3. To be called Thomas from Munich — finished

A third everyday situation is Thomas from Munich, and again the Perfekt is right when the action is finished. Example: “Er hat Thomas aus München geheißen.” — “He has been called Thomas from Munich.”

4. A sequence of completed actions

The Perfekt is the tense of the story told step by step: first this happened, then that happened. When you tell someone what you did yesterday, you chain Perfekt forms together, one per finished action. Example: “Wir haben Peter geheißen.” — “We have been called Peter.”

5. Recent past and life experience

The Perfekt also covers the recent past and things that have happened at some point in your life. With time words such as gestern, letzte Woche or heute Morgen, the Perfekt is the natural choice. Example: “Ihr habt Maria geheißen.” — “You have been called Maria.”

Perfekt vs Preterite: how to choose

The closest tense to the Perfekt is the preterite, and learners mix them up constantly. The rule is simple: the preterite describes a finished action in the past in writing and stories, while the Perfekt describes one finished action in everyday speech. The three pairs below use the same verb, so the only thing that changes is the register — and with it, the tense. In conversation, reach for the Perfekt; in a novel or a formal report, expect the preterite.

  • Perfekt: “Ich habe Peter geheißen.” — “I have been called Peter.”

  • Preterite: “Ich hieß Peter.” — “I was called Peter.”

  • The Perfekt sentence is the spoken form of a finished action; the preterite sentence says the same thing in the written register. That difference — speech versus writing — is the whole decision.

  • Perfekt: “Du hast Maria geheißen.” — “You have been called Maria.”

  • Preterite: “Du hießt Maria.” — “You were called Maria.”

  • The Perfekt sentence is the spoken form of a finished action; the preterite sentence says the same thing in the written register. That difference — speech versus writing — is the whole decision.

  • Perfekt: “Wir haben Thomas aus München geheißen.” — “We have been called Thomas from Munich.”

  • Preterite: “Wir hießen Thomas aus München.” — “We were called Thomas from Munich.”

  • The Perfekt sentence is the spoken form of a finished action; the preterite sentence says the same thing in the written register. That difference — speech versus writing — is the whole decision.

Example sentences: heißen in the Perfekt

Read these eight sentences out loud. They cover all six persons, so by the end you will have seen every form in the table used in a real sentence. Pay attention to the words around the verb — the time expressions, the objects, the other words — because those are what make each sentence sound natural.

  1. “Ich habe Maria geheißen.” — “I have been called Maria.”

  2. “Du hast Thomas aus München geheißen.” — “You have been called Thomas from Munich.”

  3. “Er hat Peter geheißen.” — “He has been called Peter.”

  4. “Wir haben Maria geheißen.” — “We have been called Maria.”

  5. “Ihr habt Thomas aus München geheißen.” — “You have been called Thomas from Munich.”

  6. “Sie haben Peter geheißen.” — “They have been called Peter.”

  7. “Ich habe Maria geheißen.” — “I have been called Maria.”

  8. “Du hast Thomas aus München geheißen.” — “You have been called Thomas from Munich.”

Common mistakes with heißen in the Perfekt

These are the errors learners actually make with this verb in this tense. Each one shows the wrong version, the right version, and why the correction matters.

  • Wrong: “Ich heiße Peter gestern.” Right: “Ich habe Peter geheißen.” Why: For one finished action yesterday, use the Perfekt habe geheißen, not the present heiße. The time word gestern points to the past.

  • Wrong: “Ich habe Peter geheißen.” (said of something you do every day) Right: “Ich heiße Peter.” Why: The Perfekt habe geheißen describes one finished action. For something you do every day, use the present heiße.

  • Wrong: “Ich bin Peter geheißen.” Right: “Ich habe Peter geheißen.” Why: The Perfekt of heißen takes the auxiliary haben, not sein: the full ich form is habe geheißen.

  • Wrong: “Ich geheißen Peter.” — leaving out the auxiliary Right: “Ich habe Peter geheißen.” Why: The Perfekt needs both parts: the auxiliary haben and the participle geheißen. The participle alone is not a complete Perfekt.

Quiz: heißen in the Perfekt

Choose the correct answer for each question, then check the answer key. Every answer is explained, so a wrong answer still teaches you something.

  1. What is the ich form of heißen in the Perfekt?

    • A) habe geheißen
    • B) hast geheißen
    • C) hat geheißen
    • D) haben geheißen

  2. What is the du form of heißen in the Perfekt?

    • A) hast geheißen
    • B) habe geheißen
    • C) hat geheißen
    • D) haben geheißen

  3. What is the er/sie/es form of heißen in the Perfekt?

    • A) habe geheißen
    • B) hast geheißen
    • C) haben geheißen
    • D) hat geheißen

  4. What is the wir form of heißen in the Perfekt?

    • A) hast geheißen
    • B) hat geheißen
    • C) haben geheißen
    • D) habe geheißen

  5. What is the ihr form of heißen in the Perfekt?

    • A) hat geheißen
    • B) habt geheißen
    • C) habe geheißen
    • D) hast geheißen

  6. What is the sie/Sie form of heißen in the Perfekt?

    • A) hast geheißen
    • B) hat geheißen
    • C) haben geheißen
    • D) habe geheißen

7. What does heißen mean in English?

  • A) to live
  • B) to be called
  • C) to think
  • D) to speak

8. What is the past participle of heißen?

  • A) geheißen
  • B) gedacht
  • C) gesprochen
  • D) gelebt

Answer key

  1. A) habe geheißen — The ich form of heißen in the Perfekt is habe geheißen.
  2. A) hast geheißen — The du form of heißen in the Perfekt is hast geheißen.
  3. D) hat geheißen — The er/sie/es form of heißen in the Perfekt is hat geheißen.
  4. C) haben geheißen — The wir form of heißen in the Perfekt is haben geheißen.
  5. B) habt geheißen — The ihr form of heißen in the Perfekt is habt geheißen.
  6. C) haben geheißen — The sie/Sie form of heißen in the Perfekt is haben geheißen.
  7. B) to be called — heißen means “to be called”. The other options are the meanings of different verbs.
  8. A) geheißen — The past participle of heißen is geheißen; the Perfekt is formed with haben + geheißen.

Frequently asked questions

How is the Perfekt of heißen formed?

With the auxiliary haben in the present plus the past participle geheißen: ich habe geheißen, du hast geheißen, er hat geheißen, wir haben geheißen, ihr habt geheißen, sie haben geheißen.

When do I use the Perfekt of heißen?

Use the Perfekt for completed actions in the past, especially in spoken German — for example, “Ich habe Peter geheißen.” — “I have been called Peter.” For an ongoing or habitual past action, use the preterite in writing instead.

What is the difference between the Perfekt and the preterite of heißen?

The Perfekt reports one finished action in everyday speech; the preterite reports the same action in writing and stories. Compare “Ich habe Peter geheißen.” with “Ich hieß Peter.” — the first is spoken, the second is written.

Pronunciation

Pronunciation is not listed on this page: the verified tables do not include IPA for heißen, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one.

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