Nuts & Bolts of German: Perfect tense: Mainly "haben", sometimes "sein"

Ich wohne in Potsdam.

Ich bin am Sonntag von Potsdam

nach Mannheim gefahren.

Jetzt bin ich in Mannheim und

besuche meine Freundin.

Wir waren zwei Wochen in New York.

Am Wochenende sind wir wieder

nach Berlin geflogen.

Jetzt sind wir wieder in Berlin.

Ruth war im Goethe-Insitut.

Dann ist sie ins Kino gegangen.

Jetzt sitzt sie mit vielen

anderen Leuten im Kino.

Most verbs take haben to form the perfect tense. Some, however, take sein. Above you can see three examples of verbs that use sein to form the perfect tense. What do most of these verbs have in common? Complete the sentence below by writing the following letters backwards. Then press [Check] to see if you were correct. Use the [Hint] button to get a free letter if you need help.

n o i t a c o l f o e g n a h c

Those verbs that use sein to form the perfect tense express a .

Note: Verbs that express a change of state like aufwachen (to wake up), einschlafen (to go to sleep) or sterben (to die), as well as sein (to be), bleiben (to stay) and passieren (to happen) also use sein to form the perfect tense.

Click here to access information on the perfect tense.

Wörterbuch (LEO)

Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS)

Wörterbuch (Linguee)

Wörterbuch (dict.cc)

Wörterbuch (PONS)

Terminologie A - Z

Tip: If you don't belong to the lucky few who possess a photographic memory, write down what you learnt while doing this exercise.

photos
Photo of New York: © Colton Duke: https://unsplash.com/photos/UExx0KnnkjY
photo of Berlin: © Claudio Schwarz: https://unsplash.com/photos/pN684G33h_M
photo of young woman: © Christian Gertenbach: https://unsplash.com/photos/UCd0wbsXgCE
photo of cinema: © Krists Luhaers: https://unsplash.com/photos/AtPWnYNDJnM