Breakdown of Bist du noch nicht zurückgekommen?
sein
to be
du
you (informal singular)
nicht
not
noch
still / yet
Questions & Answers about Bist du noch nicht zurückgekommen?
Why does this sentence use bist instead of hast?
In English, we ask 'Have you come back?' but German uses sein (to be) as the helping verb for certain actions in the Perfekt (past) tense. We use sein for verbs that show movement from one place to another, like kommen (to come).
Why is the -ge- in the middle of zurückgekommen?
Zurückkommen (to come back) is a separable verb. When making the past participle for a separable verb, the -ge- gets sandwiched between the prefix (zurück) and the main verb (kommen).
Why doesn't gekommen end with a -t like other past tense verbs?
Regular verbs end in -t in the past participle (like gespielt), but kommen is an irregular verb. Many common irregular verbs keep an -en ending in their past participle form.
How does noch nicht mean 'not yet'?
Literally, noch nicht translates to 'still not'. While English often splits up 'not' and 'yet' within a sentence, German usually keeps noch nicht together as a set phrase.
Why is at the very end of the sentence?