sein and haben: the two essential irregular verbs
sein (to be) and haben (to have) are irregular and appear in almost every sentence. Learn both full conjugations by heart.
sein (to be) and haben (to have) are the two most important verbs in German. Both are irregular, so you simply memorise them.
sein — ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist, wir sind, ihr seid, sie/Sie sind.
haben — ich habe, du hast, er/sie/es hat, wir haben, ihr habt, sie/Sie haben.
You need sein to say who or how someone is (Ich bin müde — I'm tired) and haben to say what someone has or how old they are (Ich habe Zeit — I have time). Watch the ihr form of sein: it is seid (with d), not seit — seit is a different word meaning "since".
Examples
Grammatical analysisBase form ichCaseNominativ (nominative)NumberSingular (singular)Person1st person singular (ich)Checked deterministically before build Grammatical analysisBase form seinPerson1st person singular (ich)TensePräsens (present)Checked deterministically before build müde.
I am tired.
Grammatical analysisBase form wirCaseNominativ (nominative)NumberPlural (plural)Person1st person plural (wir)Checked deterministically before build haben Zeit.
We have time.
Wie Grammatical analysisBase form altDegreePositiv (positive)Checked deterministically before build Grammatical analysisBase form seinPerson2nd person plural (ihr)TensePräsens (present)Checked deterministically before build ihr?
How old are you (all)?
Common mistakes
er/sie/es takes ist; sind is for wir and sie/Sie.
The ihr form of sein is seid (with d). seit (with t) means 'since'.
Related topics
- German present tense: regular verb conjugation
- der, die, das: gender and the definite article (Nominativ)
- German Imperative: Commands with du, ihr, and Sie
- German Yes/No Questions: Verb-First Word Order (and Answering with doch)
- German modal verbs: können, müssen, wollen, dürfen, sollen, mögen/möchten + word order
- German Perfect Tense (Perfekt): haben or sein + Past Participle
- Personal pronouns in the accusative and dative
- German Subject Pronouns: ich, du, er/sie/es — and du vs Sie