The conjugation of sein is past tense in German. The German language is the verb sein. Choosing an auxiliary verb: H ABEN or SEIN

In German, even the shortest sentences cannot do without a verb. Even where it does not have a Russian equivalent, in German it is replaced by the verb sein:

This is a book. – Das ist ein Buch.

She is young. – Sie ist jung.

They are in love. – Sie sind verliebt.

The verb sein plays the role of a connective; its form changes depending on the number and person of the noun or pronoun:

Related materials:

When learning German, some difficulties arise with this verb. The thing is that in our usual Russian speech such a verb is missing. To learn how to use the verb sein correctly, you should remember the cases in which the presence of a linking verb is necessary:

1. When mentioning a profession or any type of activity:

What is your occupation? – Was sind Sie von Beruf?

I'm a reporter by profession. – Ich bin Reporter von Beruf.

Do you work here? Yes, I am the director of this factory. – Arbeiten Sie hier. Ja, ich bin der Direktor dieser Fabrik.

2. If we are talking about the material from which the item is made:

This table is made of glass. – Dieser Tisch ist aus Glass.

This book is made of papyrus. – Dieses Buch ist aus Papirus.

Our house is made of stone. – Unser Haus ist aus Stein.

3. If you are talking about the location of an object or person:

They are in Moscow. – Sie sind in Moscow

Child in bed. – Das Kind ist im Bett.

Phone book in the closet. – Das Telefonbuch ist im Scrank.

4. The use of a linking verb is mandatory when demonstrating or presenting someone or something:

This is my friend. – Das ist mein Freund.

This is my sister. – Das ist meine Schwester.

I am Jan. – Ich bin Jan.

5. When it comes to age:

My sister is 20 years old. – Meine Schwester ist 20 Jahre alt.

I am 18 years old. – Ich bin 18 Jahre alt.

How old are you? – Wie alt sind Sie?

6. When describing an object, person, animal, etc.:

She's a smart woman. – Sie ist eine kluge Frau.

Our neighbors are too noisy. — Unsere Nachbarn sind zu laut.

He's a bad swimmer. – Er ist ein schlechter Schwimmer.

7. When describing a weather phenomenon:

Warm. - It's warm.

Cold. – Es ist kalt.

It's chilly. – Es ist naßkalt.

In addition, the verb sein in German is used to construct some grammatical constructions, as well as when forming verbs in the infinitive with different parts of speech:

1. Construction sein + es + Dativ with a personal pronoun. Most often it is used to express the state of a person or animal.

We're hot. – Uns ist warm.

I'm cold. – Mir ist kalt.

I suddenly felt bad. – Mir ist plötzlich schlecht.

2. Sein + Nomen (use of two nouns in a sentence). Used to describe a person, object or animal:

Your work colleague is the biggest pessimist on Earth. — Dein Arbeitskollege ist der größte Pessimist in der ganzen Welt.

You are my prince. - Du bist mein Prinz.

Their father is the richest man in the city. — Ihr Vater ist der reichste Mann in der Stadt.

3. Formation of verbs with other parts of speech. In the case when the verb sein forms a verb with other parts of speech, it is still written separately:

Are all the students here? No, Jessica is absent today. — Sind alle Schüler da? Nein, Jessica fehlt heute.

At Christmas the whole family gets together. -Zu Weihnachten ist die ganze Familie zusammen.

What happened to you? You look sad. I lost my mobile phone today. — Was ist mit dir los? Du siehst so traurig aus. - Ich habe heute mein Handy verloren.

In this lesson we will look at the most important German verbs: haben and sein. It is with these verbs that you need to start learning German. Why these verbs are so important and where they are used, seelesson from Start Deutsch:

After watching the lesson, read presentation again and learn all the unfamiliar phrases:

Phrases You can print and memorize:

Ich habe ein Buch - I have a book

Du hast Fieber - You have a fever

Sie hateinen Hund - She has a dog

Wir haben Hunger - We are hungry

Ihr habtdie Wahl - You have a choice

Sie haben Fragen - They have questions

Sie haben Ideen - Do you have ideas?

Ich bin Anna - I am Anna

Du bist gesund - You are healthy

Es ist kalt - Cold

Der Tisch ist groß - Large table

Wir sind Studenten - We are students

Ihr seid sehr klug - You are very smart

Sie sind hier - They are here

Conjugation table for haben and sein. Print it out or copy it down and memorize it!

Exercises

1. Complete interactive exercises:

2. Do exercises to conjugate the verb sein:

Exercises on sein.pdf

3. Do the "Pets" exercise start, and the exercise will begin.

4. Do the exercise "Dimensions". In the window that appears, click the word at the top right start, and the exercise will begin.

5. Do the exercise "Colors". In the window that appears, click the word at the top right start, and the exercise will begin.

6. Complete the exercise "Describing Pets". In the window that appears, click the word at the top right start, and the exercise will begin.

Lyrics of the song:

Hast du ein Tier? - Do you have a pet?
Ja, ich habe ein Tier. - Yes, I have a pet.
Und was für ein Tier? - And what kind of animal?
Ich habe einen Hund. - I have a dog.

Und wie heißt dein Hund? - And what is your dog’s name?
Rufus heißt mein Hund. - Rufus is my dog's name.
Und wie alt ist dein Hund? - And how old is your dog?
Er ist sieben Jahre alt. - He is 7 years old.

Hat dein Hund Federn? - Does your dog have feathers?
Nein! Er hat keine Federn! - No! He has no feathers!
Keine Schuppen? Keinen Panzer? - No scales? No shell?
Nein! Er hat (ein) Fell. - No! He has fur.

Ist er klein oder groß? - Is it small or big?
Mein Hund ist sehr groß! - My dog is very big!
Dein Hund ist sehr groß? - Is your dog very big?
Ja, genau wie ich. - Yes, the same as me.

Und ist er braun oder schwarz? - Is it brown or black?
Mein Hund ist ganz schwarz. - My dog is completely black.
Seine Ohren sind auch schwarz? - Are his ears black too?
Ja! Er ist ein schwarzer Hund. - Yes! He's a black dog.

Conjugation of the verbs haben and sein in the present

Let me remind you that present (Präsens) is the present tense of the verb. Verbs haben"have" and sein“to be, to appear” are the most frequent in the German language, since their functions are very diverse. Beginners learning German, as a rule, take them up at the very first steps, because it is impossible to do without it. It is important to know that these verbs are irregular, since the formation of their forms in the present tense (and not only in the present) differs from the generally accepted one. But there is no harm in this: frequency verbs quickly enter the vocabulary of beginners, since they will have to work with them very often. And in the future, conjugating irregular verbs will become automatic. Actually, let's move on to verbs.

In Russian we say: “I am an actor”, “you are a teacher”, “he is a student”. The Germans literally say: “I am an actor,” “you are a teacher,” “he is a student.” In this case we use the verb sein, which has various shapes. If we want to say “I have (something or someone)”, we use the verb haben. Literally, the Germans say “I have (something or someone).” To say all this in German depending on person, number and gender, refer to the table below.

The table is quite easy to navigate. You associate the desired personal pronoun (§ 15) with the desired verb and then put the word you need (nouns take the required number). For example, verb sein with a noun:

You can, for example, say “I am good”, “he is bad”. In this case, after the verb there is a regular adjective without any changes.

With verb haben in the same way, just don’t forget about articles (§ 7), if they are needed. And one more thing... since you can have anything and in any quantity, nouns can be in any number.

There are some stable phrases like Zeit haben"to have time" Unterricht haben"to have classes" Angst haben“to be afraid”, which can be without an article.

Ich muss los. Ich habe keine Zeit.- I have to go. I have no time.
Heute habe ich Unterricht.- Today I have classes.
Ich habe Angst vor diesem Hund.- I'm afraid of this dog.

Verbs sein And haben also participate in the formation of various tense constructions as auxiliary verbs. More on this in other paragraphs.

The German verb SEIN (to exist, to be, to be) is one of the three most common verbs in the German language. It is used not only as a semantic verb, that is, in its immediate meaning, but is also widely used as an auxiliary verb for the formation of various grammatical constructions, in particular complex tense verb forms. The verb SEIN is one of the irregular, irregular verbs, in the root of which significant changes occur during the formation of the three main verb forms and also when changing in numbers and persons. The conjugation of the verb SEIN must be learned first, since its use in speech is very widespread.

Related materials:

VerbSEIN, conjugation inPrä sensAndImperfect(simple times)

Singular, 1st-3rd person			Plural, 1st-3rd person

At the very beginning of learning the German language, the verb SEIN can cause significant difficulties for a Russian person, since when it is used in the present tense Präsens, it is impossible to draw an analogy between the Russian and German languages: in Russian it is either absent or easily omitted, but in German it is always required take his obligatory, strictly assigned place. For example:

Ich muss gestehen, ich kann nothing erratic was du bist und wo du studiert hast. – I must admit, I can’t guess what your profession is and where you studied. (In German the verb cannot be omitted; in Russian it is only implied).

Erzähle mir bitte etwas über deinen neuen Freund. Ist er gross und hü bsch? – Please tell me something about your new friend. Is he tall and handsome? (As in the previous example, the presence of a verb in the German version is strictly required).

When using the verb SEIN in the past tense, its presence in the sentence is the same for both languages due to the need to indicate the time of action.

Gestern war er nothing anwesend. - Yesterday he was not was(= he was absent, not present).

Wie waren deine ersten Erfahrungen auf diesem Gebiet? –What was is yours first experience V this region?

When used in its main meaning, the verb SEIN performs certain functions in speech that distinguish it from other semantic verbs.

It serves to construct sentences whose purpose is:

1. Presentation, introducing one person to another. For example:

Dieses moderne Kraftwerk ist unser Pilot project im Bereich alternative Energieerzeugung. – This modern power plant is our very first project (pilot project) in the field of electricity production from alternative sources. (This is where the presentation of the object takes place).

Wer war dieser unternehmungsvolle Mann? — Das war Dirk Hauer. - Who was this enterprising man? - This was Dirk Hauer.

2. Mention of the profession, position or occupation of a specific person. For example:

Was bist du ja von Beruf? –Ich bin Maler, und das ist mein Atelier. –Who or You By professions? I artist, A This my Studio. (These sentences represent a person and an object.)

Was macht hier dieser grauhaarige gebrillte Mann? – Das ist unser Abteilungsleiter. –Who this grey-haired man V glasses? – This our supervisor department. (Here called job title person).

Sie sind bestimmt sehr erfahren auf diesem Gebiet. – Nein, ich bin Anfänger. –You for sure Very experienced V this region. – No, I newbie. (Here mentioned class person).

3. To indicate the material from which an object is made or composed. For example:

Ist diese Kette aus Silber? — Nein, sie ist aus Neusilber. Das ist eine Legierung. –This chain from silver? No, she from nickel silver. This is such an alloy.

The verb SEIN is also used within certain syntactic constructions:

4. In the construction “ES as subject + SEIN + object in Dativ” = “ES in Dativ + SEIN”. For example:

Es ist world total egal, wohin du gehst.= Mir ist total egal, wohin du gehst. “I don’t care at all where you go.”

Es ist world wichtig zu wissen, wann du wieder ins Krankenhaus kommst. = Mir ist wichtig zu wissen, wann du wieder ins Krankenhaus kommst. –To me important know, When You again you'll come V hospital.

5. In the construction “SEIN + predicative (adjective in short form).” For example:

In the construction “SEIN + predicative (adjective in short form).” For example:

Im Herbst sind die Wä lder in unserer Gegend besonders bunt und sch ö n . – In autumn, the forests in our region are especially colorful and beautiful.

6. In a construction with demonstrative pronouns, used to draw attention, indicate an object. For example:

Was ist das? — Das ist ein Gefrierschrank von Miele. –What This such? – This freezer camera companies"Miele".

Ist das ein modernes Produktionsverfahren? –Nein, das ist ein Verfahren aus dem letzten Jahrhundert. –This new production technology? – No, This technology from of the past century.

7. In the construction “SEIN + noun (in a sentence with double use of the nominative case).” For example:

Meine Wahl ist diese schicke schwarze Tasche von Carolina Herrera. – My choice is this elegant black bag fromCarolina Herrera.

8. The verb SEIN can also form complex verbs by adding them with other parts of speech; the individual parts of the complex verb are written separately: zusammen sein - to be together, alone; beisammen sein - to be together, more than two people; dabei sein - to be present, to participate in something. etc. In this case, the conjugated (main) part of the verb takes the characteristic place of the verb depending on the type of sentence, and the verbal “prefix”, which, although written separately, is such, behaves exactly the same as an ordinary separable verb prefix . For example:

Unsere Schule plant für das Wochenende eine Veranstaltung für unsere Paten. Wer mö chte dabei sein ? — Our school is planning a performance for our chefs this weekend. Who would like to attend?

Ich bin unbedingt dabei. = Ich werde dabei sein. - I will definitely be present.

The most common verbs in the German language include the verbs “haben - to dispose, to have at disposal” and “sein - to exist, to be, to be”. The peculiarity of these verbs is that when used in German speech they do not necessarily carry a semantic load. In addition to being used in their usual lexical meaning, they are used as auxiliary verbs, which serve in German to form tense forms of the verb and other constructions. In this case, they do not have their usual dictionary meaning, and the lexical meaning is conveyed by the semantic verb with which they form the corresponding grammatical construction.

Choosing a verb as an auxiliary: HABENor SEIN

Choice HABEN	SEIN selection
1. For intransitive verbs that do not denote any movement in space or time, movement or transition from one state to another	1. For intransitive verbs that denote any movement in space, movement
2. For verbs that denote a long-term, time-extended state	2. For intransitive verbs that denote a transition from one state to another
3. For transitive verbs, which, accordingly, require a direct object in the accusative case after themselves *	3. The verb SEIN itself in its usual lexical meaning “to be, to be, to exist”
4. For reflexive verbs that are used with the particle sich and denote focus (return) on the character (subject)	4. For a number of verbs that always form tense forms with SEIN and which need to be remembered: “become - werden”, “succeed - gelingen”, “meet - begegnen”, “stay - bleiben”, “happen, occur - passieren, geschehen »
5. For modal verbs: “must = be obliged to smth. do – sollen”, “must = be forced to sth. to do - müssen", "to want, to like, to love - möchten", "to desire, to want - wollen", "to have the right, permission to do something, to be able - dürfen", "to be able, to be able, to be able - können"
6. For impersonal verbs used in impersonal sentences and denoting various natural phenomena (precipitation, etc.).
7. The verb HABEN itself in its usual lexical meaning “to have, possess, possess”

* Here it is very important to always take into account the fact that the transitivity / intransitivity property of Russian and German verbs when translated within a given language pair does not coincide in all cases, so you should always check (if you are not sure) the control of the verb in the dictionary.

Consider the choice and use of verbs HABENor SEIN as auxiliary examples. All examples are given in the indicative mood.

HABEN

(1) Nach der Gesellschafterversammlung hat er sich ganz schnell von seinen Kollegen verabschiedet. — After the meeting of the founders, he very quickly said goodbye to his colleagues. (Here we have an intransitive verb, in its semantics, which has nothing to do with movement or movement, so the Perfekt form is formed using “haben”).

(2) Gestern hatte er über drei Stunden am Nachmittag Geschlafen, was ihn wieder gesund und munter machte. “Yesterday he slept for more than three hours in the afternoon, which made him healthy and vigorous again. (The continuous state verb is used in Plusquamperfekt with “haben”).

(3) Anlässlich unseres letzten Aufenthaltes in Holland haben wir endlich unsere Freunde in Amsterdam be sucht und ihre Kinder kennengelern. – During our last stay in Holland, we finally visited our friends in Amsterdam and met their children. (Both verbs are transitive and form the perfect form with "haben").

(4) Dein Sohn hatsich immer sämtlichen Forderungen der Erwachsenen und allen möglichen festgelegten Regeln widersetzt. - Your son always resisted and did not comply with all the demands of adults and all sorts of strictly established rules. (The choice of the verb “haben” to form the Perfect form is due to the reflexivity of the semantic verb).

(5) Ehrlich gesagt ist es immer mein Wunschbuch gewesen. Ich habe aber immer gewollt es zu lesen und nie gelesen. – To be honest, I always dreamed of this book. However, I always wanted to read it and never did. (The modal verb forms perfect with “haben”).

(6) Erinnerst du dich an den Tag im Juni 1978, an welchem es richtig geschneit hat? - Do you remember that day in June 1978 when it really snowed? (“Haben” is chosen as the auxiliary verb to form the Perfect form, since we are dealing with an impersonal verb here).

(7) Ich habe nie ein eigenes Zimmer gehabt. – I have never had my own room. (The semantic verb “haben” forms a Perfect with the auxiliary verb “haben”).

SEIN

(1) In diese gemütliche Dreizimmerwohnung sind wir vor drei Jahren eingezogen. “We moved into this cozy three-room apartment three years ago. (The verb of motion forms the Perfect form with "sein").

(2) Am Ende dieses sehr schönen und eblebnisvollen Tages ist das Kind sofort eingeschlafen. – At the end of this wonderful and very eventful day, the child immediately fell asleep. (The choice of the verb “sein” to form the Perfect form is determined by the semantics of the semantic verb, which conveys the transition from one state to another).

(3) Sie haben mich mit jemandem verwechselt. Vorgestern war ich hier nicht gewesen. (Plusquamperfekt of the verb “sein” requires it as an auxiliary verb).

(4) A) Das ist unbegreiflich, dass uns so was passiert ist. “It’s inconceivable that something like this could happen to us.” (One of those verbs that always forms Perfect and Plusquamperfekt with the verb “sein”).

b) Gestern ist es dir richtig gut gelungen, alle unangenehmen Fragen ausweichend zu beantworten. – Yesterday you really successfully managed to avoid direct answers to all the unpleasant questions. (This verb always requires "sein" as an auxiliary).

V) Seine Schwester hatte das unangenehme Gefühl, dass ihr jemand ständig gefolgtwar. – His sister had an unpleasant feeling that someone was constantly watching her = someone was constantly chasing her. (With this verb, “sein” is always used as an auxiliary).

G) Dieser Junge ist mutterseelenallein geblieben, als er noch ganz klein war. “This boy was left alone in this world when he was still very small. (With this verb, “sein” is always used as an auxiliary).

d) In der Schwimmhalle war sie zufällig ihrer alten Schulfreundin begegnet. — In the pool she accidentally met her old school friend. (With this verb, “sein” is always used as an auxiliary).

e) Was nothing geschehenist, ist nothing geschehen. -What didn’t happen didn’t happen. (With this verb, “sein” is always used as an auxiliary).

The German language has a number of verbs that have several different meanings depending on their use in a particular context. The meaning that a verb conveys in a particular situation may determine whether it has certain qualities (for example, transitivity/intransitivity), and, accordingly, various auxiliary verbs will be selected to form tense forms. For example:

So ein schönes und modernes Auto bin ich noch nie gefahren. “I have never driven such a magnificent modern car before.” (In this case we have an intransitive verb of movement, since it is used in the meaning of “to go”; accordingly, “sein” is chosen for the Perfect form).

Exercises

VerbSEIN, conjugation inPrä sensAndImperfect(simple times)

Choosing a verb as an auxiliary: HABENor SEIN

HABEN

SEIN

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