German A2.20 Listening Practice: Leave Ge Out In Two Patterns
Listen to a A2 German dialogue about leave ge out in two patterns, with audio, transcript, and grammar notes for language learning.
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Level
A2.20
Audio
Segmented audio
Transcript
16 segments
A short German listening chapter with transcript.
Notice two bounded participle patterns that close the perfect bracket without ge-.
Read while you listen.
1. Hanna · Teacher
Welcome to today's lesson! Today we'll discover why some German past participles do not take 'ge-'. Let's listen to a conversation between Felix and Clara.
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2. Felix · Native Speaker 1
Ich habe gestern meine Freundin besucht.
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3. Clara · Native Speaker 2
Habt ihr zusammen den schwierigen Text verstanden?
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4. Felix · Native Speaker 1
Ja, ich habe sie besucht und wir haben den Text gut verstanden.
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5. Clara · Native Speaker 2
Das ist super, und was hast du am Abend gemacht?
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6. Felix · Native Speaker 1
Ich habe meine Freundin besucht und danach telefoniert.
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7. Hanna · Teacher
Let's look at the first sentence: Felix said, 'Ich habe gestern meine Freundin besucht,' meaning 'I visited my girlfriend yesterday.' The verb 'besuchen' has an inseparable prefix 'be-', so its past participle is 'besucht' without 'ge-'.
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8. Lukas · Student
So any verb with an inseparable prefix like 'be-' drops the 'ge-' in the past tense?
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9. Hanna · Teacher
That's right! Also notice 'die Freundin' for a female friend or girlfriend, which becomes 'die Freundinnen' in the plural.
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10. Hanna · Teacher
In the third sentence, Felix says: 'Wir haben den Text gut verstanden,' meaning 'We understood the text well.' The verb 'verstehen' becomes 'verstanden' because 'ver-' is another inseparable prefix.
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11. Lukas · Student
Does 'verstehen' also take an accusative object like 'den Text'?
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12. Hanna · Teacher
Yes, both 'besuchen' and 'verstehen' take direct accusative objects, like 'sie' or 'den Text'.
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13. Hanna · Teacher
Finally, in the last sentence Felix says: 'Ich habe meine Freundin besucht und danach telefoniert.' Here we see 'telefoniert' from 'telefonieren'.
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14. Lukas · Student
Why does 'telefoniert' leave out 'ge-' as well?
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15. Hanna · Teacher
Verbs ending in '-ieren' never add 'ge-' in the participle form. So 'Ich habe telefoniert' simply uses 'telefoniert'.
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16. Hanna · Teacher
You've done a wonderful job today! Remember these two patterns and keep practicing your German.
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