Breakdown of Ich habe gestern die Universität besucht.
ich
I
haben
to have
besuchen
to visit
gestern
yesterday
die Universität
the university
Questions & Answers about Ich habe gestern die Universität besucht.
Why doesn't the past participle besucht start with "ge-" like other verbs?
The verb besuchen (to visit) starts with be-, which is an inseparable prefix. Verbs with inseparable prefixes (such as be-, ver-, or er-) never take a ge- in their past participle form. Because besuchen is a regular verb, it just takes the standard -t ending, making it besucht.
In English, we usually put "yesterday" at the end of the sentence. Why is gestern in the middle here?
German has a word order rule often called "Time before Object". Adverbs of time, like gestern (yesterday), usually come before the direct object in a sentence, which in this case is die Universität.
Can I put gestern at the very beginning of the sentence instead?
Yes, you can! You could say Gestern habe ich die Universität besucht. If you move gestern to the first position, the conjugated verb (habe) must remain firmly in the second position, so the subject (ich) swaps places and moves to the third position.
Is die Universität in the accusative case here?
Yes, it is the direct object receiving the action of the verb besuchen (to visit). Because Universität is a feminine noun, the article is die. Conveniently, the feminine article die looks exactly the same in both the nominative and accusative cases!
Is there a trick to remembering that it is die Universität (feminine)?
Yes! In German, any noun that ends in the suffix -tät (like Universität, Qualität, or Identität) is always feminine, so it will always use the article die.
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