A1.1 · 8 of 30

sein & haben

Lesson · 4 rules · about 5 min

Two verbs carry half of everyday German: sein for who you are, haben for what you've got.

  1. 1sein — six forms, no pattern
  2. 2haben — regular, but two forms lose the b
  3. 3haben where English says 'to be'
  4. 4möchte — the polite “would like”
Why this matters

sein (to be) and haben (to have) are the two verbs you cannot say a German sentence without. You describe yourself with sein (ich bin müde), say what you own with haben (ich habe einen Hund), and later in the course you build every past-tense sentence with one of the two (ich habe gegessen, ich bin gefahren). Both are irregular. sein is irregular through and through — bin, bist, ist, sind, seid, sind — with no pattern to lean on; haben is regular except that du hast and er hat drop the b. Learn both sets by heart now; they come up in every exercise from here to the end of the course.

Question 1 of 10 · eins
eins1zwei2drei3vier4fünf5sechs6sieben7acht8neun9zehn10

sein (to be)

ich

Ich müde und gehe ins Bett. (sein)

I am tired and am going to bed.