Perfect-Tense Auxiliary: hunn

Perfect Tense with Hunn

Level 2

A form of hunn in second place + the participle at the end: Ech hunn e Buch gelies. (I read a book.)

How It Works

1. How to build it
Conjugate hunn and put the past participle at the end of the clause:

  • Ech hunn e Buch gelies. (I read a book.)
  • Du hues gutt gespillt. (You played well.)
  • Hien huet laang geschafft. (He worked for a long time.)
  • Mir hu Pizza giess. (We ate pizza.)
  • Dir hutt eis gehollef. (You helped us.)
  • Si hunn Tennis gespillt. (They played tennis.)

Hunn follows the rule that the verb comes second, and the participle closes the clause. See The Verb Comes Second.

2. Hunn or hu?
By the n-rule, hunn is written hu before most consonants: Mir hu geschafft, but Mir hunn en Hond gehat. See The N-Rule With Verbs and Pronouns.

3. Which verbs take hunn?
Most verbs do: every verb with a direct object (iessen, kafen, liesen), verbs of activity without one (schaffen, schlofen, danzen), reflexive verbs and hunn itself (Ech hunn Honger gehat). Verbs of movement or change, and sinn and bleiwen, take sinn instead. See Perfect Tense With Sinn.

4. Questions, negation and subordinate clauses

  • Question: hunn comes first. Hues du scho giess?
  • Negation: net comes before the participle. Ech hunn dat net verstanen.
  • After well, datt and similar words, hunn moves to the very end: Ech si midd, well ech net gutt geschlof hunn. See The Verb at the End.

5. Making the participle
See Regular Past Participles, Irregular Past Participles and Participles Without Ge-. For sinn and hunn themselves, the one-word past is more common: see Simple Past of Sinn and Hunn.

Examples (6)

  1. Ech hunn e Buch gelies.

    I read a book.

    Word by Word: I have a book read.

    Hunn stays hunn because the next word starts with a vowel.

  2. Mir hu gëschter Fussball gespillt.

    We played football yesterday.

    Hunn becomes hu before g.

  3. Wat hues du um Weekend gemaach?

    What did you do at the weekend?

  4. Hues du scho giess?

    Have you eaten yet?

    In a question, hues comes first. Schonn becomes scho before g.

  5. Ech hunn dat net verstanen.

    I did not understand that.

    Net comes before the participle.

  6. Si hunn eng nei Wunneng kaaft.

    They bought a new flat.

Common Mistakes

  • Putting the participle right after hunn.

    Ech hu gelies e Buch.
    Ech hunn e Buch gelies.

    The participle goes to the end of the clause, after the object.

  • Writing hunn before a consonant that drops the n.

    Mir hunn gëschter geschafft.
    Mir hu gëschter geschafft.

    By the n-rule, hunn becomes hu before g.

  • Using the infinitive instead of the participle.

    Ech hu Fussball spillen.
    Ech hu Fussball gespillt.

    The perfect needs the participle gespillt, not the infinitive spillen.

How It Connects

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

Perfect-Tense Auxiliary: hunnLevel 2Perfect Tense with Hunn

Learn This First

Before Perfect Tense With Hunn, learn To Have: Hunn and The Verb Comes Second.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

hunn