Participles Without ge-

Level 2

No ge- when the verb does not start with a stressed syllable: studéiert, bezuelt, verstanen.

How It Works

1. Verbs in -éieren
These verbs are regular and end in -t, but have no ge-. See French-Style Verbs in -éieren.

  • studéieren → studéiert
  • telefonéieren → telefonéiert
  • reservéieren → reservéiert
  • passéieren → passéiert (with sinn)

2. Verbs with an unstressed prefix
The prefixes be-, ver-, er-, ent- and zer- never separate and never take ge-. See Prefixes That Never Separate.

  • bezuelen → bezuelt (paid)
  • besichen → besicht (visited)
  • verstoen → verstanen (understood)
  • vergiessen → vergiess (forgotten)
  • verléieren → verluer (lost)
  • erzielen → erzielt (told)
  • erklären → erkläert (explained)
  • entdecken → entdeckt (discovered)

3. Very common verbs with no ge-
These do not follow a rule, so learn them by heart:

  • kommen → komm
  • bleiwen → bliwwen
  • fannen → fonnt
  • kréien → kritt
  • bréngen → bruecht
  • héieren → héieren
  • kafen → kaaft
  • ginn → ginn

4. Separable verbs
If the simple verb has no ge-, the separable verb has none either: matkommen → matkomm, ukommen → ukomm. See Participles of Separable Verbs.

Most other verbs do take ge-; see Regular Past Participles and Irregular Past Participles.

Examples (6)

  1. Ech hunn zu Paräis studéiert.

    I studied in Paris.

    Studéieren is stressed on -éi-, so there is no ge-.

  2. Hues du d'Rechnung scho bezuelt?

    Have you paid the bill yet?

    Be- is never stressed, so bezuelen has no ge-.

  3. Ech hunn dech net verstanen.

    I did not understand you.

  4. De Bopi huet eis eng Geschicht erzielt.

    Grandpa told us a story.

  5. Mir si mam Zuch komm.

    We came by train.

    Kommen has the short participle komm, with no ge-.

  6. Wou hues du dat kaaft?

    Where did you buy that?

    Kafen → kaaft, with no ge-.

Common Mistakes

  • Adding ge- to an -éieren verb.

    Ech hunn zu Paräis gestudéiert.
    Ech hunn zu Paräis studéiert.

    Verbs in -éieren never take ge-.

  • Adding ge- to komm, as German does in gekommen.

    Mir si mam Zuch gekomm.
    Mir si mam Zuch komm.

    The Luxembourgish participle of kommen is komm, with no ge-.

  • Adding ge- before an unstressed prefix.

    Hues du d'Rechnung gebezuelt?
    Hues du d'Rechnung bezuelt?

    Be- is an unstressed prefix, so the participle has no ge-.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Participles Without ge-Level 2

Learn This First

Before Participles Without Ge-, learn Regular Past Participles: Ge- ... -t.

Words in This Pattern

be-kommenbleiwenfannenkréienbréngenhéierenkafen