Sollen in the Perfekt Tense in German

Introduction

Sollen means “should, to be supposed to”, and this page covers exactly one thing: sollen 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 sollen, 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 sollen in the Perfekt. For example: “Ich habe es gesollt.” — “I have been supposed to do it.” Everything on this page uses the forms of sollen exactly as they are conjugated in the Perfekt, so you can trust every form you see here.

Sollen in the Perfekt Tense — full table

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

Present participle: sollend · Past participle: gesollt

The present participle is sollend, which you use as an adjective for an ongoing action. The past participle is gesollt, which you use with haben in the perfect tenses: the ich form of the Perfekt is habe gesollt, 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 sollen is used.

How the Perfekt of sollen is formed

The Perfekt of sollen is formed with the auxiliary haben in the present plus the past participle gesollt: 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 gesollt and the sie form is haben gesollt. In a main clause the participle gesollt 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 sollen takes haben as its auxiliary, the Perfekt is built the same way as for most German verbs: haben in the present, then gesollt. That is the first thing to check whenever you build a perfect tense with this verb: reach for haben, and then add gesollt.

One special rule applies to modal verbs. When sollen stands with a dependent infinitive in the Perfekt, the infinitive replaces the participle — the Ersatzinfinitiv: “Ich habe morgen kommen sollen.” — “I have been supposed to come tomorrow.” The table above still lists the main-verb perfect with the participle (habe gesollt), which is the form you use when sollen stands alone. The Ersatzinfinitiv is a usage rule, not a separate tense.

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

When to use the Perfekt of sollen

The Perfekt is not a single-purpose tense. Below are the five situations where you will use sollen 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 supposed to come tomorrow — finished

When the action is over — come tomorrow — the Perfekt is the tense to use. It presents the action as complete, with a clear end. Example: “Ich habe es gesollt.” — “I have been supposed to do it.”

2. To be supposed to stay at home this evening — finished

The same rule applies to stay at home this evening: once the action is done, the Perfekt reports it as a completed fact. Example: “Du hast es gesollt.” — “You have been supposed to do it.”

3. To be supposed to ask the teacher — finished

A third everyday situation is ask the teacher, and again the Perfekt is right when the action is finished. Example: “Er hat es gesollt.” — “He has been supposed to do it.”

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 es gesollt.” — “We have been supposed to do it.”

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 es gesollt.” — “You have been supposed to do it.”

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 es gesollt.” — “I have been supposed to do it.”

  • Preterite: “Ich sollte morgen kommen.” — “I was supposed to come tomorrow.”

  • 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 es gesollt.” — “You have been supposed to do it.”

  • Preterite: “Du solltest heute Abend zu Hause bleiben.” — “You was supposed to stay at home this evening.”

  • 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 es gesollt.” — “We have been supposed to do it.”

  • Preterite: “Wir sollten den Lehrer fragen.” — “We was supposed to ask the teacher.”

  • 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: sollen 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 es gesollt.” — “I have been supposed to do it.”

  2. “Du hast es gesollt.” — “You have been supposed to do it.”

  3. “Er hat es gesollt.” — “He has been supposed to do it.”

  4. “Wir haben es gesollt.” — “We have been supposed to do it.”

  5. “Ihr habt es gesollt.” — “You have been supposed to do it.”

  6. “Sie haben es gesollt.” — “They have been supposed to do it.”

  7. “Ich habe es gesollt.” — “I have been supposed to do it.”

  8. “Du hast es gesollt.” — “You have been supposed to do it.”

Common mistakes with sollen 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 soll morgen kommen gestern.” Right: “Ich habe es gesollt.” Why: For one finished action yesterday, use the Perfekt habe gesollt, not the present soll. The time word gestern points to the past.

  • Wrong: “Ich habe es gesollt.” (said of something you do every day) Right: “Ich soll morgen kommen.” Why: The Perfekt habe gesollt describes one finished action. For something you do every day, use the present soll.

  • Wrong: “Ich bin morgen kommen gesollt.” Right: “Ich habe es gesollt.” Why: The Perfekt of sollen takes the auxiliary haben, not sein: the full ich form is habe gesollt.

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

Quiz: sollen 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 sollen in the Perfekt?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. What does sollen mean in English?

  • A) to like
  • B) should, to be supposed to
  • C) to want
  • D) to be allowed to

8. What is the past participle of sollen?

  • A) gedurft
  • B) gemocht
  • C) gesollt
  • D) gewollt

Answer key

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

Frequently asked questions

How is the Perfekt of sollen formed?

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

When do I use the Perfekt of sollen?

Use the Perfekt for completed actions in the past, especially in spoken German — for example, “Ich habe es gesollt.” — “I have been supposed to do it.” For an ongoing or habitual past action, use the preterite in writing instead.

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

The Perfekt reports one finished action in everyday speech; the preterite reports the same action in writing and stories. Compare “Ich habe es gesollt.” with “Ich sollte morgen kommen.” — the first is spoken, the second is written.

Pronunciation

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

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