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### The Perfect Tense with "sein"

While most German verbs form the perfect tense using a conjugated form of **haben**, verbs that describe a **movement from one place to another** use **sein** (to be) as their helping verb.

Conjugate **sein** to match the subject (*ich bin, du bist, er ist*, etc.), and put the past participle at the end of the sentence.

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Hiking (**wandern**) is also a form of motion from one place to another, so it takes **sein**.

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### Events and Changes of State

Verbs that express an event occurring or a change of state also take **sein**. A very common example is **passieren** (to happen).

Remember that verbs ending in **-ieren** do not take the **ge-** prefix in their past participle. The past participle of **passieren** is simply **passiert**.

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### Separable Verbs of Motion

When a verb of motion has a separable prefix, the whole verb still uses **sein**. In the past participle, the **-ge-** is sandwiched between the prefix and the verb stem.

For example, **kommen** (to come) is a verb of motion. So is **zurückkommen** (to come back), and its past participle becomes **zurückgekommen**.

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The same applies to boarding and getting off vehicles: **einsteigen** becomes **eingestiegen**, and **aussteigen** becomes **ausgestiegen**.

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Whether you are walking, driving, or flying (**fliegen**), if you are traveling from point A to point B, use **sein**!

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The perfect tense with sein (ist gegangen)

adjective

adverb

auxiliary verb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Definite articles and gender (der, die, das)

Indefinite articles (ein, eine)

Regular verbs and statement word order (ich -e, er -t)

The second person (du -st, Sie -en)

Yes/No questions

The verb 'to have' (habe, hast, hat)

Plural pronouns and regular verbs (wir, ihr, sie)

Plural 'to be' and 'to have' (sind, haben)

Plural nouns and the plural article (die)

Sentence negation (nicht)

Noun negation (kein, keine)

Question words (wer, was, wo, wie)

Numbers 0 to 12 (null, eins, zwei)

The accusative case (den, die, das)

Indefinite accusative articles (einen, keinen)

Direct object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn)

There is / there are (es gibt)

Vowel changes: e to i/ie (er spricht, sie liest)

Vowel changes: a to ä (er fährt)

Weather and conditions (es regnet)

First- and second-person possessives in the nominative (mein, dein, Ihr)

First- and second-person possessives in the accusative (meinen, deinen, Ihren)

Third-person and plural possessives (sein, ihr, unser, euer)

Possession with names (Annas Auto)

Demonstrative pronouns (dieser, diese, dieses)

Expressing preference (gern, lieber)

Asking about direction and origin (woher, wohin)

Expressing ability (können)

Polite requests (möchten)

Expressing intention (wollen)

Modal verbs of obligation and permission (müssen, dürfen)

Separable prefix verbs

Adverbs of frequency (immer, oft, manchmal, nie)

The Dative case and definite articles (dem, der, den)

Dative indefinite and negative articles (einem, einer, keinem)

Dative personal pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr...)

Dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, schmecken)

Dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach...)

Accusative prepositions (für, ohne, gegen)

Two-way prepositions for location (in, an, auf...)

Informal singular imperative (mach, komm)

Plural and formal imperative (macht, machen Sie)

Coordinating conjunctions (und, oder, aber, denn)

Simple past of sein and haben (war, hatte)

The perfect tense: regular verbs (gemacht, gespielt)

Past tense: irregular verbs (ge-...-en)

The perfect tense: mixed verbs (gebracht, gekannt)

The perfect tense: separable verbs (eingekauft)

The perfect tense: inseparable and -ieren verbs (besucht, studiert)

Informal singular commands (mach, lern)

Numbers 13 to 20 (dreizehn to zwanzig)

Counting by tens to 100 (dreißig, vierzig)

Telling time (Uhr, halb, Viertel, vor, nach)

Numbers 21 to 99 (einundzwanzig, zweiunddreißig)

Greetings and farewells

Thank you, sorry and good wishes

Everyday replies

Numbers 100 to 1,000,000 (hundert, tausend...)

Becoming and getting (werden)

The impersonal pronoun (man)

Indefinite pronouns (jemand, niemand...)

Time sequence prepositions (vor, nach, bei)

Time span prepositions (von... bis, seit, für)

Adverbs of sequence (zuerst, dann, danach)

Two-way prepositions for direction (in, auf, an...)

Directional adverbs (hin, her)

Placement verbs (setzen, stellen, legen)

Months of the year (Januar, Februar)

The four seasons (Frühling, Sommer)

Time prepositions and indefinite pronouns (an, in, um)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 19th (am ersten)

Ordinals 20th and beyond (-ste, -sten)

Placement vs. location verbs (stellen vs. stehen)

Accusative reflexive pronouns (mich, dich, sich)

Accusative reflexive verbs (sich freuen)

Dative reflexive pronouns (mir, dir, sich)

Dative reflexive verbs (sich etwas merken)

Ordinal numbers 11th to 19th (-te)

Temporal prepositions (an, in, um)

Double objects with nouns

Double objects with pronouns

The modal verb for advice (sollen)

Simple past of modal verbs (musste, wollte...)

Simple past of common irregulars (wurde, wusste, es gab)

Adverbial connectors of consequence (deshalb, darum...)

Subordinate clauses for statements (dass)

Subordinate clauses for reasons (weil)

Question	Answer
to walk / to run (steady pace, jog)	laufen
He ran very fast.	Er ist sehr schnell gelaufen.
We walked to the park.	Wir sind zum Park gegangen.
to hike	wandern
It rained, but we hiked.	Es hat geregnet, aber wir sind gewandert.
the mountain	der Berg
We hiked on the mountain.	Wir sind auf dem Berg gewandert.
The mountain was gorgeous.	Der Berg war wunderschön.
to happen	passieren
What happened yesterday?	Was ist gestern passiert?
A mistake happened.	Es ist ein Fehler passiert.
the accident	der Unfall
An accident happened.	Es ist ein Unfall passiert.
My brother had an accident yesterday.	Mein Bruder hatte gestern einen Unfall.
suddenly	plötzlich
Suddenly a car came.	Plötzlich ist ein Auto gekommen.
The bus suddenly departed.	Der Bus ist plötzlich abgefahren.
the trip / the journey	die Reise
The trip was very expensive.	Die Reise war sehr teuer.
to come back	zurückkommen
We came back from the trip.	Wir sind von der Reise zurückgekommen.
Have you not come back yet?	Bist du noch nicht zurückgekommen?
to board / to get in	einsteigen
Everyone boarded.	Alle sind eingestiegen.
My brother boarded.	Mein Bruder ist eingestiegen.
to get off / to alight	aussteigen
Where did you get off?	Wo seid ihr ausgestiegen?
I got off here.	Ich bin hier ausgestiegen.
I flew to Spain yesterday.	Ich bin gestern nach Spanien geflogen.
Yesterday we ran fast to the park.	Gestern sind wir schnell zum Park gelaufen.
to go on foot, to walk	zu Fuß gehen
I walked.	Ich bin zu Fuß gegangen.
We are walking home.	Wir gehen zu Fuß nach Hause.
to go for a walk	spazieren gehen
We went for a walk.	Wir sind spazieren gegangen.
Do you like going for walks?	Gehst du gern spazieren?
again	wieder
He came again.	Er ist wieder gekommen.
We are playing again tomorrow.	Wir spielen morgen wieder.
to die	sterben
The dog has died.	Der Hund ist gestorben.
She died suddenly.	Sie ist plötzlich gestorben.
dead	tot
The dog is dead.	Der Hund ist tot.
The tree is dead.	Der Baum ist tot.
to see again	wiedersehen
When will we see each other again?	Wann sehen wir uns wieder?
I would like to see you again tomorrow.	Ich möchte dich morgen wiedersehen.

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