Exercise 4: Irregular Verbs
Unregelmäßige Verben: haben und sein (Irregular Verbs: to have and to be)
Introduction
The verbs haben 'to have' and sein 'to be' are both very important. They are quite irregular in German, as in English.
Different Patterns
As explained in Unit 3, irregular verbs in German tend to change their stem vowel. In the present tense this sometimes affects the du and er/sie/es forms. Sein is an example of an irregular verb where the endings change even more drastically. This is very similar to English, where 'to be' has very irregular forms in the present tense: 'I am', 'you are', 'he/she/it is', 'we are', 'you are', 'they are'.
Conjugation Overview
| Pronoun (Person) | haben (to have) | sein (to be) |
|---|---|---|
| ich (I) | habe | bin |
| du (you - informal) | hast | bist |
| Sie (you - formal) | haben | sind |
| er/sie/es (he/she/it) | hat | ist |
| wir (we) | haben | sind |
| ihr (you - plural informal) | habt | seid |
| Sie (you - formal plural) | haben | sind |
| sie (they) | haben | sind |
Haben in More Detail
Different Pattern for du and er/sie/es
There are some patterns with haben which may help you remember the endings.
The endings for ich, wir, ihr and sie are regular: you add them to the stem in the normal way: ich hab-e, wir hab-en, ihr hab-t, sie hab-en.
It is only for du and er/sie/es that the finite verb form is irregular – you need to drop the b from the stem: du hast, er/sie/es hat.
• Ich habe viel zu tun. (I have a lot to do.)
• Claus hat eine Schwester. (Claus has one sister.)
• Haben Sie Wechselgeld? (Do you have change?)
• Sie haben ein neues Auto. (They have a new car.)
Use of haben
Haben is an important verb which you will be using a lot. It is used to form tenses just as English uses 'to have': Ich habe gesungen. (I have sung.)
Useful Phrases with haben
Sein in More Detail
Completely Irregular
The finite verb forms for sein are completely irregular and need to be learned by heart: ich bin, du bist, Sie sind, er/sie/es ist, wir sind, ihr seid, Sie sind, sie sind.
• Ich bin aus Deutschland. (I'm from Germany.)
• Sind Sie Herr Schuhmacher? (Are you Mr Schuhmacher?)
• Du bist sehr schön. (You're very beautiful.)
• Er ist Amerikaner. (He is an American.)
• Sie ist Lehrerin. (She is a teacher.)
• Es ist schwer. (It's difficult.)
• Entschuldigung, wir sind verspätet. (Apologies, we are late.)
• Seid Ihr verheiratet? (Are you married?)
• Wir sind aus Großbritannien. (We're from Great Britain.)
"To be or not to be, that is the question."
Sein oder Nicht-Sein. Das ist die Frage.
Use of sein
Like haben, sein is an important verb and you will be using it a lot. It is used to form tenses and other grammatical forms.
Although there are many similarities between the use of 'to be'/sein in English and German, there are also important differences. You cannot, for instance, use sein to form a tense similar to the English: 'I am going'. This tense does not exist in German. There is only one present tense: Ich gehe.
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haben
sein
Exercises
Example: Ich habe eine Schwester.
Example: Was ist Carsten von Beruf? – Er ist Student.
Write out the full present tense for all persons.
haben (to have)
sein (to be)
Translate into German.