How do I use "haben" and "sein" in the perfect tense?
When forming the perfect tense in German, you need to use either the verb "haben" or "sein" as an auxiliary verb, along with the past participle of the verb in question.
"Sein" is mainly used when there is an action from A to B involved. For example: Jan ist von München nach Hamburg gefahren. Jan has travelled from Munich to Hamburg. The action here being that Jan has travelled from Munich (A) to Hamburg (B).
"Haben" is consequently normally used with verbs that do not involve an action, rather a noun in the accusative case. For example: Jan hat den Apfel gekauft. Jan bought the apple. Here there is no movement from A to B, but there is an accusative object, the apple. Therefore "haben" is used.
UG
Related German GCSE answers
All answers ▸Deine deutsche Freundin hat dir eine Postkarte geschrieben. Sie hat dich gefragt wo du gerne in den Urlaub fahren möchtest. Beschreibe was dein Traumurlaub wäre, wieso du gerne dahin fahren möchtest und was du dort machen würdest.
Translate the following sentences into Spanish: (1) I bought a new laptop on Saturday. (2) I think that I am going to study Spanish next year.
What's the difference between the German cases?
Translate the passage into English - 'Ich wohne mit meinen zwei Kindern in einem Doppelhaus. Mein Sohn geht ins Gymnasium, wo er gute Noten bekommt. Meine Tochter hat Fremdsprachen an der Universität studiert, weil sie im Ausland arbeiten möchte.'