Breakdown of Das Mittagessen war sehr scharf, aber ich habe es gegessen.
ich
I
sein
to be
es
it
sehr
very
haben
to have
aber
but
essen
to eat
das Mittagessen
the lunch
scharf
spicy
Questions & Answers about Das Mittagessen war sehr scharf, aber ich habe es gegessen.
Why is the past participle of essen exactly gegessen and not just "geessen"?
The verb essen (to eat) is an irregular (strong) verb. Normally for strong verbs, we just add ge- to the beginning and keep the -en ending. But "geessen" is hard to say because of the double vowel, so German adds an extra -g- in the middle for smoother pronunciation, creating gegessen.
Why do we use the simple past war (was) in the first half, but the Perfekt tense habe ... gegessen (ate) in the second?
In spoken German, you usually use the Perfekt tense for past actions, like ich habe gegessen. However, the verbs sein (to be) and haben (to have) are exceptions. Germans prefer to use their simple past forms (war and hatte) even in everyday conversation because it is shorter and sounds more natural.
Does the word aber change the word order?
No, it doesn't! The word aber (but) is a connecting word that takes up "position zero" between the two clauses. This means the next word, ich, is in position 1, and the conjugated verb habe stays perfectly in its normal position 2.
Why do we use the word es to mean "it" here?
The word es refers back to Das Mittagessen (the lunch). Because Mittagessen is a neuter noun (it uses das), you must use the neuter pronoun es to say "it". If you were talking about a masculine noun like der Apfel (the apple), you would have to use the masculine pronoun and say ich habe ihn gegessen.
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