Breakdown of Ich habe einen Fehler übersehen.
Questions & Answers about Ich habe einen Fehler übersehen.
In a main clause with Perfekt, German word order is:
- Subject (Ich)
- Auxiliary (habe)
- Objects or other elements (einen Fehler)
- Past participle (übersehen)
Putting the participle at the end is a hard rule in German perfect‐tense sentences.
German auxiliaries depend on the main verb’s properties.
- haben is used with transitive verbs (those that take a direct object) and most other verbs.
- sein is used with intransitive verbs indicating motion/change of state (e.g., gehen, sterben).
Since übersehen is transitive (to overlook something), it uses haben.
Fehler is a masculine noun: der Fehler. In the accusative case, masculine ein changes to einen.
• ein Fehler would be nominative (“a mistake” as the subject).
• You cannot omit the article because it’s a singular, countable noun in German.
The ü is a front‐rounded vowel [y], similar to the French u in tu or the vowel in English few (without the [w] glide).
Phonetic guide: [ˌyːbɐˈzeːən]
– ü: [yː] (long)
– ber: [bɐ]
– sehen: [ˈzeːən]
Yes.
• übersehen = “to overlook” (accidentally not notice something).
• ignorieren = “to ignore” (deliberately pay no attention to something).
So Ich habe einen Fehler übersehen implies you missed it unintentionally; Ich habe einen Fehler ignoriert implies you saw it but chose to disregard it.