When to use Haben and Hatten
I am so confused as to when to use Haben and Hatten.

My understanding was that you use Hatten when you want to put two things in the past in chronological order. So why in this test question, which asked me to make it the past tense, was it haben?

- Anja und Sabine arbeiten sehr spät und essen nachher im Restaurant.
My answer was:
- Anja und Sabine hatten sehr spät gearbietet und hatten nachher im Restaurant gegessen.
This was wrong apparently...

But in another test question I had, it was correct?
- Klaus schreibt zwei Gedichte pro Woche und liest sie im Literaturverein vor.
my answer:
- Klaus hat zwei Gedichte pro Woche geschrieben und hat sie im Literaturverein vorgelesen.

I do not understand!

Question

When to use Haben and Hatten
I am so confused as to when to use Haben and Hatten.

My understanding was that you use Hatten when you want to put two things in the past in chronological order. So why in this test question, which asked me to make it the past tense, was it haben?

- Anja und Sabine arbeiten sehr spät und essen nachher im Restaurant. 
My answer was:
- Anja und Sabine hatten sehr spät gearbietet und hatten nachher im Restaurant gegessen. 
This was wrong apparently...

But in another test question I had, it was correct?
- Klaus schreibt zwei Gedichte pro Woche und liest sie im Literaturverein vor. 
my answer:
- Klaus hat zwei Gedichte pro Woche geschrieben und hat sie im Literaturverein vorgelesen.

I do not understand!

Answer

Maybe you just mixed up the forms of "haben":

Both sentences labeled as "correct" use the Perfekt tense (similar to present perfect in English) which consists of the present tense forms of "haben" plus the participle. So you have: 
- ich habe gearbeitet/geschrieben
- du hast gearbeitet/geschrieben
- er/sie/es hat gearbeitet/geschrieben  <<-- your 2nd example
- wir haben gearbeitet/geschrieben
- ihr habt gearbeitet/geschrieben
- sie haben gearbeitet/geschrieben <

Answer

The difference between "haben gearbeitet" and "hatten gearbeitet" is just the same as between "have worked" and "had worked" in English. Would you use the latter in your first example?

But did the test questions really say "past tense"? In that case both your examples are wrong, you'd rather need the equivalents of English "worked", "wrote" etc. instead of the forms above.

Answer

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Answer

Thank you for all your answers!

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