The Perfect Tense with "sein"

Some verbs take sein, not haben

In the last lesson you built the Perfekt with haben. A smaller but very frequent group of verbs uses sein as the helping verb instead: Ich BIN gefahren, not "Ich habe gefahren".

Everything else stays the same. The form of sein takes second position, the participle goes to the very end, and the verb bracket holds the sentence together: Wir sind am Sonntag nach München gefahren.

Which verbs take sein? Two ideas cover almost all of them at A1: movement from one place to another, and a change of state. If the subject ends up somewhere else, or in a different condition, the verb probably takes sein.

Another way to feel the difference: sein verbs never take a direct object. You cannot "go something" or "come something". If the verb has an object, as in "Ich habe einen Kuchen gekauft", the helping verb is haben.

• Ich bin nach Hause gegangen.

  I went home.

  bin second, participle last

• Wir sind am Sonntag nach München gefahren.

  We went to Munich on Sunday.

• Der Zug ist um zehn Uhr angekommen.

  The train arrived at ten o'clock.

The movement verbs you need

Learn these sein-verbs as pairs with their participles: gehen - gegangen, fahren - gefahren, kommen - gekommen, fliegen - geflogen, laufen - gelaufen, ankommen - angekommen, abfahren - abgefahren, aufstehen - aufgestanden.

Notice that most of them are irregular, with the -en ending, and that the separable ones put ge- inside the word just as with haben: an-ge-kommen, auf-ge-standen.

A change of state counts as movement of a kind: passieren (to happen) uses sein, as in Was ist passiert? (What happened?). As an -ieren verb it has no ge-: passiert.

Watch out for the false friend feeling with fahren: even when you drive a car yourself, the everyday A1 sentence still takes sein, because you move from A to B: Ich bin mit dem Auto gefahren.

• Sie ist heute früh aufgestanden.

  She got up early today.

  separable: auf-ge-standen

• Wir sind nach Spanien geflogen.

  We flew to Spain.

• Der Bus ist schon abgefahren.

  The bus has already left.

• Was ist passiert?

  What happened?

  -ieren verb: no ge-

Two special ones: sein and bleiben

Two verbs take sein although nothing moves at all: sein itself and bleiben (to stay). Their participles are gewesen and geblieben. Ich bin gestern zu Hause geblieben (I stayed at home yesterday). Wo bist du gewesen? (Where were you?)

These two simply have to be memorised as exceptions. The good news: gewesen and geblieben are extremely common in everyday small talk about the weekend, so you will get plenty of practice. In fact, for sein, spoken German often prefers the simple past war (Ich war zu Hause), which you may already recognise; both are correct at A1. Pick whichever feels easier for you in speaking, but learn to understand both, because you will hear both from native speakers in the same conversation.

• Ich bin am Sonntag zu Hause geblieben.

  I stayed at home on Sunday.

• Wir sind im Sommer am Meer gewesen.

  We were at the seaside in the summer.

• Bist du schon einmal in Berlin gewesen?

  Have you ever been to Berlin?

haben or sein? A quick decision guide

When you build a Perfekt sentence, ask one question: does the subject move from A to B or change its state? If yes, use sein. If no, use haben. Ich bin ins Kino gegangen (I moved there: sein), but Ich habe einen Film gesehen (no movement: haben).

Compare minimal pairs to fix the difference: Ich bin nach Hause gefahren (I drove home, movement) versus Ich habe Pizza gegessen (I ate pizza, no movement). Add sein and bleiben as memorised exceptions, and you can handle every past-tense sentence the A1 exam will ask of you. In the speaking test, a few clean Perfekt sentences about your weekend make an excellent impression.

• Ich bin ins Kino gegangen und habe einen Film gesehen.

  I went to the cinema and watched a film.

  sein for the movement, haben for the rest

• Er ist spät gekommen und hat nichts gegessen.

  He came late and did not eat anything.

• Am Samstag bin ich lange gelaufen.

  On Saturday I ran for a long time.