The perfect tense (hunn vs sinn)
A2The perfect is how you talk about the past in speech. Put 'hunn' or 'sinn' in second position and the past participle at the end — and learn which verbs take 'sinn'.
How the perfect is built
The perfect is the normal past tense in spoken Luxembourgish — you will use it constantly in the exam to talk about yesterday, the weekend, or your journey to the country. It has two parts: an auxiliary ('hunn' or 'sinn'), which is the conjugated verb in second position, and a past participle, which goes to the end of the clause.
The pattern is: [subject] then [hunn/sinn, second position] then [rest] then [participle]. 'Ech hunn e Buch gelies.' 'Gëschter hunn ech vill geschafft.'
| Ech hunn e Buch gelies. | I read a book. | |
| Gëschter hunn ech vill geschafft. | Yesterday I worked a lot. | Time first, auxiliary second, participle last. |
| Wat hues du um Weekend gemaach? | What did you do at the weekend? | Question: auxiliary before the subject, participle still last. |
Gëschter hunn ech e Film . (kucken)
Regular participle ge-…-t, and it stands at the end of the clause.
Regular participles: ge- … -t
For a regular verb, build the participle with ge- + stem + -t: schaffen becomes geschafft, wunnen becomes gewunnt, spillen becomes gespillt, léieren becomes geléiert, kachen becomes gekacht.
Watch the spelling: the ending is -t, and a stem-final consonant often doubles (schaff → geschafft). Almost all of these regular verbs take 'hunn'.
| Ech hunn haut vill geschafft. | I worked a lot today. | |
| Mir hu véier Joer zu Esch gewunnt. | We lived in Esch for four years. | 'hunn' becomes 'hu' before 'véier' (v). |
| D'Kanner hu gëschter am Gaart gespillt. | The children played in the garden yesterday. |
Common irregular participles
Many everyday verbs have irregular participles you simply have to memorise, and several of them also change their stem vowel. Note which auxiliary each one takes — it is fixed.
| goen → gaangen | to go → gone | takes 'sinn'. |
| kommen → komm | to come → come | takes 'sinn'. |
| sinn → gewiescht | to be → been | takes 'sinn'. |
| bleiwen → bliwwen | to stay → stayed | takes 'sinn'. |
| hunn → gehat, iessen → giess, gesinn → gesinn, schreiwen → geschriwwen | had, eaten, seen, written | all of these take 'hunn'. |
hunn or sinn?
Most verbs form the perfect with 'hunn'. Use 'sinn' instead for two groups: verbs of MOTION from one place to another (goen, kommen, fueren, lafen, reesen) and verbs of a CHANGE OF STATE (ginn = to become, aschlofen = to fall asleep, stierwen = to die). The verbs 'sinn' and 'bleiwen' also take 'sinn'.
Choosing the wrong auxiliary is a favourite error, so drill it: 'Ech hunn geschafft' but 'Ech sinn gaangen'. A quick test: if the verb has a direct object, it is almost always 'hunn'.
| Ech sinn an d'Stad gaangen. | I went into town. | motion → 'sinn'. |
| Ech sinn op Paräis gefuer. | I travelled to Paris. | motion → 'sinn'. |
| Mir sinn zu Lëtzebuerg gewiescht. | We were in Luxembourg. | 'sinn' itself takes 'sinn'. |
| Hien ass den Owend doheem bliwwen. | He stayed home in the evening. | 'bleiwen' → 'sinn'. |
| Ech hunn eng Taass Kaffi gedronk. | I drank a cup of coffee. | direct object → 'hunn'. |
Ech um aacht Auer an d'Schaff gaangen. (hunn/sinn)
'goen' is a motion verb, so it takes 'sinn'.
Mir eng Pizza giess. (hunn/sinn)
'iessen' has a direct object, so it takes 'hunn'.