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The Easiest Guide to Sein Conjugation in German

One key reason we communicate is to describe how the world around us “is,” “was,” or “will be.” These “to be” verbs are a Swiss army knife of linguistics in English as well as in German grammar. They’re so common that they show up in daily conversation without much thought or consideration. 

However, much like learning how to ride a bike when you were little, there’s work and study to be done before using sein (to be) verbs in sentences and sein conjugation becomes second nature to you. Use this easy guide for the proper use of sein and find out how to conjugate it in any context so you can have this powerful language tool handy for practical German conversations.

What does sein mean and how do you conjugate it?

The German verb sein means “to be” in English. As one of the most fundamental and most used verbs in the German language, sein serves as a key verb in forming many German sentences. You will also see sein used to form compound tenses like Perfekt (present perfect) and Plusquamperfekt (past perfect).

Just like any verb in German, sein needs to be conjugated—meaning, changed in form—to agree with the grammatical gender, number, mood, and tense of the subject of the sentence. Since sein is an irregular German verb, you won’t be able to follow the standard rules of German conjugation, where usually all that is needed is to adjust the ending of the verb. 

Rather, sein conjugation takes many unique forms depending on the context, like bin (am) or ist (is). Read the handy charts in the following sections to get an idea of all the different forms sein can take in a sentence.

  • Ich bin ein Lehrer. → Ich war ein Lehrer.  → Ich werde ein Lehrer sein.
    • I am a teacher. → I was a teacher. → I will be a teacher.
  • Er ist glücklich.  → Er war glücklich. → Er wird glücklich sein.
    • He is happy. → He was happy. → He will be happy.
  • Sie sind ein Student. → Sie waren ein Student. → Sie werden ein Student sein.
    • You are a student. → You were a student. → You will be a student.

1. Identify the subject of your sentence

As with any verb in German, sein (to be) has to agree with the subject of your sentence in terms of grammatical gender, number, and tense. The “subject” of your sentence is the noun or pronoun that is performing the action. Each pronoun makes sein conjugate in a different way, so being able to match sein correctly with the pronoun being used will give your reader or listener vital context as to which noun or pronoun sein is referring to.

  • ich bin = I am
  • du bist = you are
  • er/sie/es ist = he/she/it is
  • ihr sind = you all are
  • sie sind = they are
  • Sie sind = you (formal) are

If your subject is a noun instead of a pronoun, like “the supermarket” or “John,” then you’ll always conjugate sein the same as you would if the noun was “he/she/it” instead. This is true for all six German tenses, but here’s how it works in simple past tense as a quick example.

  • Er war die letzten vier Tage krank. = He has been sick for four days.
  • Karl war die letzten vier Tage krank. = Karl has been sick for four days.

2. Figure out which of the 6 German tenses is being used

In order to understand how conjugating sein (to be) works, you need to understand all the contexts of time in which sein can be used. Each tense in German has its own unique way of featuring sein to give the reader or listener context on “when” you’re talking about. 

Notice as you read the following chart that there is a simple present, past, and future tense as well as a Perfekt (perfect) version of each of these tenses which are known as “compound tenses.” Once you can recognize each of these tenses, the German conjugation of sein will just be a matter of identifying the subject of your sentence.

Below is a chart of each German tense, along with their English equivalent and examples:

German Tense English Tense Sein Conjugation English Translation
Präsens simple present Ich bin I am
Präteritum simple past Ich war I was
Futur I simple future Ich werde sein I will be
Perfekt present perfect Ich bin gewesen I have been
Plusquamperfekt past perfect Ich war gewesen I had been
Future II future perfect Ich werde gewesen sein I will have been

Conjugating sein in present, past, and future tenses

male teacher helping three children use sein conjugation in german

There are three main categories in which we divide time: present, past, and future. Conveniently, this is how grammar has decided to divide up tenses as well. The three simple German time tenses covered in this section are a great place to start because you simply need to conjugate sein (to be) to match the tense and subject without too much messing out with sentence structure. 

See how the German conjugation of sein is easy to master in the Präsens (simple present), Präteritum (simple past), and Futur I (simple future) in the next few sections.

Sein conjugation in the Präsens (simple present) tense

As the most commonly used tense in the German language, the simple present tense describes things as they are or as they are happening now. You will typically see sein (to be) placed right after the subject in this tense, followed by the remaining information of the sentence.

See the following table for the different conjugations of sein (to be) in the German simple present tense:

German Pronoun Sein Conjugation German Example English Translation
ich
I
bin Ich bin Lehrer. I am a teacher.
du
you, informal
bist Du bist meine Frau. You are my wife.
er/sie/es 
he/she/it
ist Es ist Morgen. It is morning.
wir
we
sind Wir sind Kellnerinnen. We are waitresses.
ihr 
you, informal plural
seid Ihr seid gerannt. You all ran.
sie/Sie 
they, informal/you, formal
sind Sie sind berühmt. They/You are famous.

How to conjugate sein in Präteritum (simple past)

The Präteritum (simple past) tense is used in German to describe things that were or happened previously. This tense is used in writing far more often than in speech since most Germans talk about the past in the Perfekt (present perfect) tense. In English, there are only two “to be” verbs used in the simple past tense: “was” and “were.” 

Similarly, there are only two states of sein in the German simple past, which is either war (was) or war- with some ending dependent on the subject of the sentence. Drawing comparisons between German and your mother tongue makes German easy to learn and should be a focus as you study language in general.

To conjugate sein in the simple past, simply identify the subject of your sentence, choose the corresponding version of sein from the chart below, and place your new version of sein in the sentence exactly where you would if it were in the present tense. No further sentence alteration is needed!

Check out the chart below to see how sein (to be) is conjugated in the simple past tense along with examples:

German Pronoun Sein Conjugation German Example English Translation
ich
I
war Ich war ein Kind. I was a child.
du
you, informal
warst Du warst ein Baby. You were a baby.
er/sie/es 
he/she/it
war Er war ein Kind. He was a child.
wir
we
waren Wir waren in Paris. We were in Paris.
ihr 
you, informal plural
wart Ihr wart jung. You all were young.
sie/Sie 
they, informal/you, formal
waren Sie waren schmutzig. They/You were dirty.

Using sein in the Futur I (simple future) tense

As a forward-looking tense, Futur I (simple future) is used to discuss how things will be or how they will happen one bright sunny day in the future. Similar to English, how present “to be” verbs like “am” become “will,” the German verb sein (to be) gets replaced by werden (will be). You then conjugate werden according to the subject of the sentence as shown in the chart below. 

Once you’ve swapped the sein in your sentence with a conjugated werden, you’ll move the verb of the sentence to the very end. Now you have a sentence about the future with a correctly conjugated sein!

Refer to the following table to learn how werden changes form to agree with the subject of the sentence in the simple future tense:

German Pronoun Sein Conjugation German Example English Translation
ich
I
werde Ja, ich werde etwas spielen. Yes, I will play something.
du
you, informal
wirst Wirst du dieses Buch lesen? Are you going to read this book?
er/sie/es 
he/she/it
wird Er wird gleich niesen. He is about to sneeze.
wir
we
werden Wir werden schwimmen. We are going to swim.
ihr 
you, informal plural
werdet Was werdet ihr morgen haben? What will you have tomorrow?
sie/Sie 
they, informal/you, formal
werden Sie werden Fußball spielen. They/You are going to play soccer.

Using past participles with sein correctly

woman holding child on lap pointing out of an airplane window

Once you’re comfortable conjugating sein (to be) in the three simple tenses, it’s time to introduce a close companion to sein: past participles. Past participles are the real superstar of perfect tenses, but you can just think of them as the past tense version of German verbs. In most cases, a past participle will call the end of a sentence home, while sein will be placed earlier, next to the subject of the sentence. 

Below are a few sentences showing you past participles in action, with sein and the participle highlighted:

  •  Ich bin nach Berlin geflogen. = I have flown to Berlin.
  • Wir sind zum Laden gegangen. = We have gone to the store

How to form a past participle in German

A past participle, known as Partizip II in German, simply refers to a verb used to form perfect tenses. In English, we form past participles by dropping off the “-ing” from the end of a verb like “walking” or “talking” and replacing it with “-ed” as in “walked” and “talked.” 

German forms past participles for the most part by adding a ge– to the start of a verb stem, meaning the core, unchanging part of the verb, and altering the end of the verb to -t.

For most verbs, use the formula:

  • ge- + [verb stem] + -t

Examples:

  • Machen (to make) = gemacht (made)
  • Spielen (to play) = gespielt (played)
  • Lernen (to learn) = gelernt (learned)

However, for irregular German verbs, the process is similar, but the ending will be -en rather than -t and there may be a vowel change in the verb stem:

  • ge- + [verb stem with possible vowel change] + -en

Examples:

  • Sehen (to see) = gesehen (seen)
  • Trinken (to drink) = getrunken (drunk)
  • Fliegen (to fly) = geflogen (flown)

Finally, if your verb of choice has a separatable prefix like ab-, an-, or auf- for example, then you will follow the formula for regular German verbs, but you’ll keep that prefix in front and add the ge- after it and end the past participle in either -en or -t:

  • [separatable prefix] + ge- + [verb stem] + –en or -t

Examples:

  • Abholen (to pick up) = abgeholt (picked up)
  • Anrufen (to call) = angeruft (called)

Perfecting sein conjugation in present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect tenses

woman running near a river on the frankfurt promenade showing sein conjugation

Now that you’ve been introduced to the three simple German tenses, it’s time to take that knowledge a step further with the three German perfect tenses. While you may notice that sein is conjugated in the same way in compound tenses as it is in each simple tense equivalent, there is more work to be done to the sentence structure with perfect tenses. 

You will need to form a past participle and place it at the end of the sentence along with correctly conjugating sein to make sentences clear and grammatically correct in compound tenses. See how these German perfect tenses work in the following sections.

Mastering Perfekt (present perfect) sein conjugation

Don’t be confused by the “present” part of “present perfect.” When speaking the German language, most Germans use the Perfekt (present perfect) tense to describe actions that have been completed in the past. You can remember that “present perfect” is called “present” because it uses the same conjugations for sein (to be) as the simple present tense, even though it refers to past events.

Very similar to the past perfect tense in German, you can form a sentence in the present perfect tense by using a present tense conjugation of sein next to the subject of your sentence. Then you gently place your past participle at the end of the sentence and call it a day, you’ve formed a grammatically correct sentence with sein in the present perfect tense!

See this process in action with a few examples and a reminder of the conjugations for sein (to be) in the table here:

German Pronoun Present Perfect German Example English Translation
ich
I
bin + past participle Ich bin von meinem Fahrrad gefallen.  I fell off my bicycle.
du
you, informal
bist + past participle Du bist sechs Kilometer gerannt! You ran six kilometers!
er/sie/es 
he/she/it
ist + past participle Er ist zum Supermarkt gegangen. He went to the grocery store.
wir
we
sind + past participle Wir sind in die Berge gefahren. We went to the mountains.
ihr 
you, informal plural
seid + past participle Wo seid ihr letzte Woche gewesen? Where did you all go last weekend?
sie/Sie 
they, informal/you, formal
sind + past participle Sie sind gerade auf den Berg geklettert. They just climbed up the mountain.

Putting sein in the Plusquamperfekt (past perfect)

When you want to describe an action that had already been completed before another past action, then Plusquamperfekt (past perfect) is the tense you’ll need to conjugate sein into. Notice how sein changes in this case to either war (was) or war- (were) with some form of ending depending on the subject just like it does in the Perfekt tense. The only difference is that now sein is being used as an auxiliary verb, meaning it’s there to support the past participle verb of the sentence.

Place your conjugated sein (to be) right after the subject of the sentence, then drop your past participle at the end of your sentence to form a grammatically correct expression in the past perfect tense.

Find the correct conjugations for sein (to be) in the past perfect tense along with practical examples in the table below:

German Pronoun Past Perfect German Example English Translation
ich
I
war + past participle Ich war fast gefallen. I had almost fallen.
du
you, informal
warst + past participle Du warst schon aufgestanden. You had already gotten up.
er/sie/es 
he/she/it
war + past participle Er war beinahe gestorben. He had nearly died.
wir
we
waren + past participle Wir waren längst weggegangen. We had long since left.
ihr 
you, informal plural
wart + past participle Ihr wart sofort gekommen. You all had come right away.
sie/Sie 
they, informal/you, formal
waren + past participle Sie waren gerade eingesteigen. They/You had just boarded.

Futur II (future perfect) tense with sein conjugation

Last but not least, the Futur II (future perfect) tense builds on the Futur I (simple future) tense to describe an action that will have been completed by a certain point in the future. For example, you can say that the tea “will have cooled down” before your late guest arrives. 

In this tense, sein (to be) pulls double duty, since you will conjugate it first as an auxiliary verb to support your past participle and end your sentence with the infinitive of sein, which—conveniently enough—is just the word sein itself. Imagine sein covering the front and rear of your future perfect sentence like the cover of a book.

To form a sentence in Futur II, place your conjugated sein after the subject of the sentence as always. Then, place your past participle at the end of the sentence followed by the word sein, which doesn’t need to be conjugated. Now you can talk about the future as it relates to other future events!

Below, the chart shows the sein (to be) conjugations for the future perfect tense and what sentences in this tense may look like.

German Pronoun Future Perfect German Example English Translation
ich
I
werde + past participle + sein Ich werde zehn Kilometer gelaufen sein. I will have run ten kilometers.
du
you, informal
wirst + past participle + sein Du wirst nach Italien gereist sein. You will have traveled to Italy.
er/sie/es 
he/she/it
wird + past participle + sein Sie wird zu Hause geblieben sein. She will have stayed home.
wir
we
werden + past participle + sein Wir werden früh aufgestanden sein. We will have gotten up early.
ihr 
you, informal plural
werdet + past participle + sein Ihr werdet längst gegangen sein. You all will have long been gone.
sie/Sie 
they, informal/you, formal
werden + past participle + sein Sie werden in Berlin angekommen sein. They/You will have arrived in Berlin.

Key takeaways for conjugating sein

There are a lot of crossovers between how to-be verbs like sein (to be) work in English and German. Here are a few things to remember about conjugating sein:

  • Sein must agree with the subject of the sentence to agree on grammatical gender, number, tense, and mood.
  • As an irregular verb, sein changes forms significantly based on tense and mood.
  • In perfect tenses, sein is conjugated and used as an auxiliary verb to support a past participle.

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