Gelacht

Gelacht is the past participle of the German verb lachen, meaning to laugh. It is used primarily to form the perfect tenses with the auxiliary haben, for example: ich habe gelacht, du hast gelacht, er hat gelacht.

Formation and usage form the core of its function. Gelacht is created by adding the prefix ge- to the stem lach- and the suffix -t, a common pattern for weak (regular) German verbs. In composite tenses, gelacht combines with the appropriate form of haben: ich habe gelacht, wir haben gelacht, sie hatten gelacht, etc. The future perfect also exists in grammatical form: ich werde gelacht haben.

Grammatical notes and examples help illustrate its role. In everyday usage, gelacht denotes that laughter occurred at some point in the past: Gestern habe ich viel gelacht. Wir haben laut gelacht, als der Film begann. The tense system with gelacht is compatible with all persons and numbers: er hat gelacht; sie hatten gelacht; wir werden gelacht haben.

Etymology and related forms. The verb lachen is of Germanic origin and has cognates in other Germanic languages, such as Dutch lachen and English laugh. The past participle gelacht reflects the standard ge- prefix pattern for many weak verbs in German.

In summary, gelacht is the standard non-finite form used to express past laughter in German, serving as the key participle in perfect, pluperfect, and future-perfect constructions built with haben.