Sein Conjugation in German: Present, Past & Perfekt (with Examples)

Sein conjugation chart: present, past and Perfekt at a glance

This chart puts all three tenses side by side. Use it for a quick check, then read the sections below for examples and the reasons behind each form.

The subject stays the same while the tense changes the picture: Ich bin hier. = I am here. Ich war hier. = I was here. Ich bin hier gewesen. = I have been here.

Sein conjugation in the present tense

The form of sein changes with the subject. You cannot build bin or ist by adding regular endings to the infinitive. Learn the six rows in the chart, then use each form in a short sentence. The plural subjects wir and sie both take sind, as does formal Sie.

Ich bin is the form you need when speaking about yourself. Ich bin müde. = I am tired. Change the subject to wir and you need sind: Wir sind müde. = We are tired.

Sind in German can mean are with we, they or formal you. It is not the form for every English you. Use du bist for one person addressed informally and ihr seid for several people addressed informally.

Compare sie ist (she is) with sie sind (they are) and Sie sind (you are, formal). Capitalization helps in writing, but at the start of a sentence all three begin with a capital. Use the verb and context together.

For a shorter first lesson, try the A1 introduction to sein. Sein is also one of the irregular verbs in the German verb conjugation guide.

How do you use sein in everyday sentences?

Use the verb sein to describe identity, age, location or a state. English uses forms of be in many of the same situations. Learn the German expression as a whole, though, because some familiar English phrases use a different verb in German.

• Ich bin Ingenieurin. = I am an engineer. (A woman speaking.)
• Du bist 28 Jahre alt. = You are 28 years old.
• Er ist aus Indien. = He is from India.
• Wir sind zu Hause. = We are at home.
• Ihr seid pünktlich. = You are on time. (Informal plural.)
• Das Essen ist warm. = The food is warm.

Notice that the profession sentence has no ein or eine. German usually omits the indefinite article when stating an unmodified profession after sein. Adjectives and other contexts can change the pattern, so start with a simple introduction such as Ich bin Arzt. = I am a doctor.

Age uses sein: Ich bin 28 Jahre alt. = I am 28 years old. Hunger commonly uses haben: Ich habe Hunger. = I am hungry. You can also say Ich bin hungrig. = I am hungry. Hunger is a noun; hungrig is an adjective.

When do you use the verb sein?

Use sein whenever you say who or what someone is, where they are or what they are like. These are the main uses at A1 and A2 level:

What is the simple past of sein?

The Präteritum forms of sein are war, warst, war, waren, wart and waren. Use them to say where someone was or what something was like. These forms are common in conversation as well as writing, so you do not need to avoid war when speaking.

• Gestern war ich krank. = Yesterday I was ill.
• Wir waren am Wochenende in Hamburg. = We were in Hamburg at the weekend.
• Wo wart ihr gestern? = Where were you yesterday? (Informal plural.)

Ich and er/sie/es share war. For ihr, use wart; for wir, sie and formal Sie, use waren. Keep ihr seid and ihr wart together in your notes, because the ihr forms differ from the wir and sie forms.

The past tense of sein and haben lesson lets you compare war with hatte. Haben has its own pattern, covered in the haben conjugation guide.

How do you form the Perfekt of sein?

Use a present-tense form of sein plus gewesen, its past participle. The helper changes with the subject, while gewesen stays the same. In an ordinary main-clause statement, the helper occupies the conjugated-verb position and gewesen goes at the end.

• Ich bin schon in Berlin gewesen. = I have been to Berlin before.
• Seid ihr schon dort gewesen? = Have you been there before? (Informal plural.)

Both ich war and ich bin gewesen are correct past forms. War is often the simpler choice in everyday conversation. Usage varies by region and context; bin gewesen is not an error or a form reserved for writing.

Do not assume that German Perfekt always needs an English present-perfect translation. Depending on the context, ich bin dort gewesen can mean I was there or I have been there. English and German do not divide past-tense uses in exactly the same way.

You can check the forms against Duden's sein conjugation table, which also includes tenses and moods beyond this beginner guide.

When is sein a helping verb?

Sein also helps form the Perfekt of other verbs. Compare Ich bin zu Hause. = I am at home, where sein supplies the meaning to be, with Ich bin nach Hause gegangen. = I went home, where bin helps form the past tense of gehen.

Many intransitive verbs expressing a change of place or state use sein in the Perfekt. Common examples include gehen (to go), kommen (to come) and einschlafen (to fall asleep). Sein and bleiben (to stay) also take sein as their helper.

• Sie ist angekommen. = She has arrived.
• Das Kind ist eingeschlafen. = The child has fallen asleep.
• Wir sind zu Hause geblieben. = We stayed at home.

The helper does not mean that every sentence describes travel. Bleiben describes staying, and sein itself forms bin gewesen. Learn each new verb with its participle and helper. Avoid a blanket rule that any physical movement requires sein; many activity verbs use haben.

When does a verb take sein in the Perfekt? Movement, change of state and other rules

Ask a few questions about the main verb. If the answer to one of the first three is yes, the verb usually takes sein.

1. Does the subject itself move from one place to another? Verbs like gehen, kommen, fahren, fliegen, laufen, reisen, fallen, umziehen and aussteigen describe this kind of movement, usually without an accusative object. Ich bin nach Köln gefahren. = I went to Cologne.
2. Does the subject change its state and become something different? This is the case with einschlafen, aufwachen, aufstehen, werden, wachsen and sterben. Er ist Lehrer geworden. = He became a teacher.
3. Is it one of sein, bleiben, werden, passieren or geschehen? These always take sein, even though nothing moves. Was ist passiert? = What happened?
4. If none of this fits, use haben. That covers verbs with an accusative object, reflexive verbs and most activities. Ich habe Deutsch gelernt. = I learned German.

The same verb can change its helper. Fahren takes sein when you travel somewhere, but haben when you drive something: Ich bin nach Berlin gefahren. = I went to Berlin. Ich habe das Auto gefahren. = I drove the car. Movement without a change of place, such as tanzen (to dance), takes haben: Wir haben getanzt. = We danced.

How do you give instructions with sein?

The imperative of sein is irregular too. Use Sei for one person you address with du, Seid for several people you address with ihr, and Seien Sie for the formal Sie.

• Sei leise! = Be quiet! (To one person, informal.)
• Seid pünktlich! = Be on time! (To several people, informal.)
• Seien Sie bitte vorsichtig! = Please be careful! (Formal.)

How do you ask questions and avoid common mistakes?

For a yes-or-no question, put the conjugated form first: Bist du bereit? = Are you ready? With a question word, put that word first: Wo bist du? = Where are you? In both, choose the form that matches the subject.

Learn a statement, a question and a past version together: Du bist hier. = You are here. Bist du hier? = Are you here? Du warst hier. = You were here. Repeat the set with wir: Wir sind hier. = We are here. Sind wir hier? = Are we here? Wir waren hier. = We were here.

Practice: fill in the form of sein

Use the tense and English meaning to choose your answer.

1. Ich ___ bereit. = I am ready. (Present.)
2. Ihr ___ heute früh da. = You are here early today. (Present, informal plural.)
3. Gestern ___ wir in Köln. = Yesterday we were in Cologne.
4. Wo ___ du gestern? = Where were you yesterday?
5. Sie ___ schon dort gewesen. = She has been there before.
6. Wir sind zu Hause ___. = We have been at home. (Complete the Perfekt of sein.)

Answers

1. bin: the present form with ich.
2. seid: the present form with ihr.
3. waren: the simple-past form with wir.
4. warst: the simple-past form with du.
5. ist: she takes ist, including as the helper in the Perfekt.
6. gewesen: the past participle of sein.

Frequently asked questions

Related lessons and practice

Try the sein exercises for more practice with the present forms. If you would like to practise introductions with a teacher, check GermanNotes demo availability.

• German verb conjugation guide
• A1 lesson: the verb sein
• Past tense of sein and haben