German Grammar A–Z
Look up German grammar topics A–Z, organized by category and level — with clear explanations and examples.
Using sein and haben
Sein and haben are two very important verbs in German. Both are verbs that we will certainly encounter from the very start of learning German. The meanings of these two verbs are completely different, yet many German learners still confuse them. In today's article we will distinguish these two verbs together!
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Sein (to be) |
Haben (to have) |
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- Combined with the Nominativ: Das ist ein Hund. (That is a dog.) |
- Combined with the Akkusativ: Ich habe einen Hund. (I have a dog.) |
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- Used with adjectives: „Ich bin glücklich.” (I am very happy.) „Ihr seid nett.” (You are so kind.) „Sie sind freundlich.” (They are very friendly.) |
- Combined with nouns to express possession: „Hast du Kinder?” (Do you have children?) „Ich habe eine Wohnung.“ (I have an apartment.) „Hast du einen Job?” (Do you have a job?) „Ich habe Zeit.“ (I have time.) |
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- Used with nouns referring to a person such as: nouns for occupations, proper names, nouns for nationality,...: „Bist du Deutscher?“ (Are you German?) „Ich bin Ania.“ (I am Ania.) „Meine Freundin ist Lehrerin.“ (My girlfriend is a teacher). |
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- Used with expressions of age, dates and clock time: „Ich bin 33 Jahre alt.“ (I am 33 years old.) „Es ist 8 Uhr.“ (It is 8 o'clock.) „Heute ist der 24.Januar.“ (Today is January 24th.) |
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- Used as an auxiliary verb in the structure of the present perfect (Perfekt) or past perfect (Plusquamperfekt). Sein is combined with verbs of movement and change of state such as: laufen, gehen, fahren, rennen, springen, fliegen, ….. and special verbs such as: bleiben, sein, werden,... „Ich bin gegangen.“ (I went.) „Du bist aufgestanden.“ (You got up.) „Als ich ankam, waren alle schon gegangen.“ (When I arrived, everyone had already left.) |
- Used as an auxiliary verb in the structure of the present perfect (Perfekt) or past perfect (Plusquamperfekt). Haben is combined with all the remaining verbs (verbs that do not take sein). „Wir haben uns in Berlin kennengelernt.“ (We met in Berlin.) „Er hat den Tisch gedeckt.“ (He set the table.) „Ich habe drei Kilogramm zugenommen.“ (I gained 3 kg.) |
