Vergessen in the Perfekt Tense in German

Introduction

Vergessen means “to forget”, and this page covers exactly one thing: vergessen 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 vergessen, 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 vergessen in the Perfekt. For example: “Ich habe meine Schlüssel vergessen gestern.” — “I have forgotten my keys yesterday.” Everything on this page uses the forms of vergessen exactly as they are conjugated in the Perfekt, so you can trust every form you see here.

Vergessen in the Perfekt Tense — full table

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

Partizip I: vergessend · Partizip II: vergessen

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

How the Perfekt of vergessen is formed

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

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

When to use the Perfekt of vergessen

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

1. Forgetting my keys — finished

When the action of forgetting my keys is finished, the Perfekt is the tense to use. It presents the action as complete, with a clear end. Example: “Ich habe meine Schlüssel vergessen gestern.” — “I have forgotten my keys yesterday.”

2. Forgetting the appointment — finished

The same rule applies to forgetting the appointment: once the action is done, the Perfekt reports it as a completed fact. Example: “Du hast den Termin vergessen gestern.” — “You have forgotten the appointment yesterday.”

3. Forgetting the book at home — finished

A third everyday situation is forgetting the book at home, and again the Perfekt is right when the action is finished. Example: “Er hat das Buch zu Hause vergessen gestern.” — “He has forgotten the book at home 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 meine Schlüssel vergessen gestern.” — “We have forgotten my keys 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 den Termin vergessen gestern.” — “You have forgotten the appointment 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 meine Schlüssel vergessen gestern.” — “I have forgotten my keys yesterday.”

  • Preterite (Präteritum): “Ich vergaß meine Schlüssel gestern.” — “I forgot my keys 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 den Termin vergessen gestern.” — “You have forgotten the appointment yesterday.”

  • Preterite (Präteritum): “Du vergaßt den Termin gestern.” — “You forgot the appointment 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 das Buch zu Hause vergessen gestern.” — “We have forgotten the book at home yesterday.”

  • Preterite (Präteritum): “Wir vergaßen das Buch zu Hause gestern.” — “We forgot the book at home 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: vergessen 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 den Termin vergessen gestern.” — “I have forgotten the appointment yesterday.”

  2. “Du hast das Buch zu Hause vergessen gestern.” — “You have forgotten the book at home yesterday.”

  3. “Er hat meine Schlüssel vergessen gestern.” — “He has forgotten my keys yesterday.”

  4. “Wir haben den Termin vergessen gestern.” — “We have forgotten the appointment yesterday.”

  5. “Ihr habt das Buch zu Hause vergessen gestern.” — “You have forgotten the book at home yesterday.”

  6. “Sie haben meine Schlüssel vergessen gestern.” — “They have forgotten my keys yesterday.”

  7. “Ich habe den Termin vergessen gestern.” — “I have forgotten the appointment yesterday.”

  8. “Du hast das Buch zu Hause vergessen gestern.” — “You have forgotten the book at home yesterday.”

Common mistakes with vergessen 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 vergesse meine Schlüssel gestern.” Right: “Ich habe meine Schlüssel vergessen gestern.” Why: For one finished action yesterday, use the Perfekt habe vergessen, not the present vergesse. The time word gestern points to the past.

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

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

  • Wrong: “Ich vergaß meine Schlüssel gestern.” (in everyday speech) Right: “Ich habe meine Schlüssel vergessen gestern.” Why: The preterite vergaß is mostly a written tense. In everyday speech, a finished action yesterday takes the Perfekt habe vergessen.

Quiz: vergessen 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 ______ den Termin.”

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

2. Complete the sentence: “Du ______ das Buch zu Hause.”

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

3. Complete the sentence: “Er ______ meine Schlüssel.”

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

4. Complete the sentence: “Wir ______ den Termin.”

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

5. Complete the sentence: “Ihr ______ das Buch zu Hause.”

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

6. Complete the sentence: “Sie ______ meine Schlüssel.”

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

7. What does vergessen mean in English?

  • (A) to hope
  • (B) to wish
  • (C) to forget
  • (D) to remember

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

  • (A) gehofft
  • (B) gewünscht
  • (C) vergessen
  • (D) geerinnert

Answer key

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

Frequently asked questions

How is the Perfekt of vergessen formed?

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

When do I use the Perfekt of vergessen?

Use the Perfekt for completed actions in the past, especially in spoken German — for example, “Ich habe meine Schlüssel vergessen gestern.” — “I have forgotten my keys 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 vergessen?

The Perfekt reports one finished action in everyday speech; the preterite reports a completed past action in writing and stories. Compare “Ich habe meine Schlüssel vergessen gestern.” with “Ich vergaß meine Schlüssel 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 vergessen, so no pronunciation is given rather than an invented one.

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