Breakdown of Mein Vater hat das Fahrrad repariert.
haben
to have
das Fahrrad
the bicycle
mein
my
der Vater
the father
reparieren
to repair
Questions & Answers about Mein Vater hat das Fahrrad repariert.
Why is the past participle repariert instead of gerepariert?
In German, verbs that end in -ieren in their infinitive form (like reparieren) never get a ge- prefix in the past tense. To make the past participle, you just drop the -en and add a -t, giving us repariert.
Why do we use hat ... repariert to say "repaired"?
German commonly uses the Perfekt tense for past events. This is similar to the English structure "has repaired". The helping verb hat goes in the second position of the sentence, and the main action repariert (the past participle) gets pushed to the very end.
Can I put the words in the English order and say "Mein Vater hat repariert das Fahrrad"?
No. In German, when you have a two-part verb like hat ... repariert, the helping verb takes the normal verb spot, but the past participle must always sit at the absolute end of the sentence.
Why doesn't the article for das Fahrrad change to show it is the direct object?
das Fahrrad is indeed the direct object (accusative case) here. However, only masculine nouns change their article (from der to den) when they become direct objects. Because Fahrrad is a neuter noun, its article stays das.
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