Introduction
Unregelmäßige Verben: haben und sein (Irregular Verbs: to have and to be)
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
| 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.
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.
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.