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PERFEKT WITH SEIN
Talking About the Past, Part 2
Motion, change of state, and a few exceptions — the verbs that use sein instead.
Why this matters: most verbs use haben in the Perfekt (Lesson 17), but a small, essential set of verbs — mostly about moving from one place to another or changing state — use sein instead. Get this wrong and every sentence about going somewhere or something changing sounds noticeably off to a native speaker.
How sein Conjugates
| Pronoun | sein |
|---|---|
| ich | bin |
| du | bist |
| er / sie / es | ist |
| wir | sind |
| ihr | seid |
| sie / Sie | sind |
Same word order as always: sein in position two, participle at the end. Ich bin nach Berlin gefahren. (I went to Berlin.)
Group 1: Motion From One Place to Another
If the verb describes movement with a clear destination — going, coming, flying, driving somewhere — it takes sein.
| Infinitive | Participle | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| gehen | gegangen | to go |
| fahren | gefahren | to drive / go (vehicle) |
| kommen | gekommen | to come |
| fliegen | geflogen | to fly |
| laufen | gelaufen | to run / walk |
| reisen | gereist | to travel |
Group 2: Change of State (and a Few Exceptions)
Verbs describing a change from one condition to another — falling asleep, waking up, dying — also take sein. So do a handful of exceptions that don't fit either pattern but just have to be memorized: sein itself, bleiben, and werden.
| Infinitive | Participle | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| werden | geworden | to become |
| aufwachen | aufgewacht | to wake up |
| einschlafen | eingeschlafen | to fall asleep |
| sterben | gestorben | to die |
| sein | gewesen | to be |
| bleiben | geblieben | to stay / remain |
Real Talk: a few motion verbs can actually take haben instead, if the sentence focuses on the action itself rather than the destination — Ich habe das Auto gefahren (I drove the car) versus Ich bin nach Hause gefahren (I drove/went home). At A1 level, don't worry about that nuance yet — just learn the common sein-verbs above and you'll be right the vast majority of the time.
More examples: Wir sind ins Kino gegangen. (We went to the cinema.) Er ist um 7 Uhr aufgewacht. (He woke up at 7.)
📥 Download Your Lesson 18 PDF
Sein-verb flashcards, the haben-vs-sein decision cheat sheet, and 4 practice exercises with an answer key — enter your email and it lands in your inbox instantly.
📖 What's Next:
Next up: A1 Lesson 19 — Two-Way (Wechsel) Prepositions. You'll learn the 9 prepositions that switch between accusative and dative depending on whether there's movement or a fixed location.
Related Posts
→ A1 Lesson 17: Perfekt Tense with haben
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