Schließen in the Perfekt Tense in German

Introduction

Schließen means “to close”, and this page covers exactly one thing: schließen in the Perfekt. The Perfekt is the tense German speakers reach for in everyday speech when they talk about completed actions in the past — what happened yesterday, last week, or a moment ago. On this page you will find the full Perfekt table for schließen, 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 schließen in the Perfekt. For example: “Ich habe die Tür geschlossen gestern.” — “I have closed the door yesterday.” Everything on this page uses the forms of schließen exactly as they are conjugated in the Perfekt, so you can trust every form you see here.

Schließen in the Perfekt Tense — full table

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

Partizip I: schließend · Partizip II: geschlossen

The present participle is schließend, which you use as an adjective. The past participle is geschlossen, which you use with haben in the perfect tenses: the ich form of the Perfekt is habe geschlossen, 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 schließen is used.

How the Perfekt of schließen is formed

The Perfekt of schließen is formed with the auxiliary haben in the present plus the past participle geschlossen: 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 geschlossen and the sie form is haben geschlossen. The participle geschlossen never changes its spelling in this table: the verified dump gives the participle in the uninflected form throughout, and agreement with the subject is a separate step that depends on the sentence.

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

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

When to use the Perfekt of schließen

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

1. Closing the door — finished

When the action of closing the door is finished, the Perfekt is the tense to use. It presents the action as complete, with a clear end. Example: “Ich habe die Tür geschlossen gestern.” — “I have closed the door yesterday.”

2. Closing the window — finished

The same rule applies to closing the window: once the action is done, the Perfekt reports it as a completed fact. Example: “Du hast das Fenster geschlossen gestern.” — “You have closed the window yesterday.”

3. Closing the shop — finished

A third everyday situation is closing the shop, and again the Perfekt is right when the action is finished. Example: “Er hat den Laden geschlossen gestern.” — “He has closed the shop yesterday.”

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 die Tür geschlossen gestern.” — “We have closed the door yesterday.”

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 das Fenster geschlossen gestern.” — “You have closed the window yesterday.”

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 completed past action, mostly 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 time frame — and with it, the tense. Notice how the Perfekt sentences use words such as jeden Tag or gestern, while the preterite sentences belong to a story told in the past. Those time words are your best clue when you are choosing a tense.

  • Perfekt: “Ich habe die Tür geschlossen gestern.” — “I have closed the door yesterday.”

  • Preterite (Präteritum): “Ich schloss die Tür gestern.” — “I closed the door yesterday.”

  • The Perfekt sentence is about the present moment or one finished action in speech; the preterite sentence is about the past as it is told in writing. That difference — now or finished in speech versus told in a story — is the whole decision.

  • Perfekt: “Du hast das Fenster geschlossen gestern.” — “You have closed the window yesterday.”

  • Preterite (Präteritum): “Du schlossest das Fenster gestern.” — “You closed the window yesterday.”

  • The Perfekt sentence is about the present moment or one finished action in speech; the preterite sentence is about the past as it is told in writing. That difference — now or finished in speech versus told in a story — is the whole decision.

  • Perfekt: “Wir haben den Laden geschlossen gestern.” — “We have closed the shop yesterday.”

  • Preterite (Präteritum): “Wir schlossen den Laden gestern.” — “We closed the shop yesterday.”

  • The Perfekt sentence is about the present moment or one finished action in speech; the preterite sentence is about the past as it is told in writing. That difference — now or finished in speech versus told in a story — is the whole decision.

Example sentences: schließen 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 das Fenster geschlossen gestern.” — “I have closed the window yesterday.”

  2. “Du hast den Laden geschlossen gestern.” — “You have closed the shop yesterday.”

  3. “Er hat die Tür geschlossen gestern.” — “He has closed the door yesterday.”

  4. “Wir haben das Fenster geschlossen gestern.” — “We have closed the window yesterday.”

  5. “Ihr habt den Laden geschlossen gestern.” — “You have closed the shop yesterday.”

  6. “Sie haben die Tür geschlossen gestern.” — “They have closed the door yesterday.”

  7. “Ich habe das Fenster geschlossen gestern.” — “I have closed the window yesterday.”

  8. “Du hast den Laden geschlossen gestern.” — “You have closed the shop yesterday.”

Common mistakes with schließen 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 schließe die Tür gestern.” Right: “Ich habe die Tür geschlossen gestern.” Why: For one finished action yesterday, use the Perfekt habe geschlossen, not the present schließe. The time word gestern points to the past.

  • Wrong: “Ich habe die Tür geschlossen jeden Tag.” (said of a daily habit) Right: “Ich schließe die Tür jeden Tag.” Why: The Perfekt habe geschlossen describes one finished action. For something you do every day, use the present schließe.

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

  • Wrong: “Ich schloss die Tür gestern.” (in everyday speech) Right: “Ich habe die Tür geschlossen gestern.” Why: The preterite schloss is mostly a written tense. In everyday speech, a finished action yesterday takes the Perfekt habe geschlossen.

Quiz: schließen 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. Complete the sentence: “Ich ______ das Fenster.”

  • (A) hat geschlossen
  • (B) haben geschlossen
  • (C) habe geschlossen
  • (D) hast geschlossen

2. Complete the sentence: “Du ______ den Laden.”

  • (A) hat geschlossen
  • (B) haben geschlossen
  • (C) hast geschlossen
  • (D) habe geschlossen

3. Complete the sentence: “Er ______ die Tür.”

  • (A) haben geschlossen
  • (B) hat geschlossen
  • (C) habe geschlossen
  • (D) hast geschlossen

4. Complete the sentence: “Wir ______ das Fenster.”

  • (A) haben geschlossen
  • (B) habe geschlossen
  • (C) hast geschlossen
  • (D) hat geschlossen

5. Complete the sentence: “Ihr ______ den Laden.”

  • (A) habe geschlossen
  • (B) hast geschlossen
  • (C) hat geschlossen
  • (D) habt geschlossen

6. Complete the sentence: “Sie ______ die Tür.”

  • (A) haben geschlossen
  • (B) habe geschlossen
  • (C) hast geschlossen
  • (D) hat geschlossen

7. What does schließen mean in English?

  • (A) to run
  • (B) to run fast
  • (C) to jump
  • (D) to close

8. What is the past participle (Partizip II) of schließen?

  • (A) gerannt
  • (B) gesprungen
  • (C) geschlossen
  • (D) gelaufen

Answer key

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

Frequently asked questions

How is the Perfekt of schließen formed?

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

When do I use the Perfekt of schließen?

Use the Perfekt for completed actions in the past, especially in spoken German — for example, “Ich habe die Tür geschlossen gestern.” — “I have closed the door yesterday.” For an ongoing or habitual past action, use the preterite in writing instead.

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

The Perfekt reports one finished action in everyday speech; the preterite reports a completed past action in writing and stories. Compare “Ich habe die Tür geschlossen gestern.” with “Ich schloss die Tür gestern.” — the first is spoken, the second is written.

Pronunciation

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

Related pages