When do I use "sein" in the perfect tense?

In German the perfect tense is formed with haben/sein + past participle. The majority of verbs use haben in the perfect tense (such as Ich habe gespielt – I played). Transitive verbs (verbs that take an accusative) and reflexive verbs, for example, take haben.Generally, verbs that concern a change of place or state (such as gehen, kommen, laufen, wachsen, sterben) take sein while other verbs take haben.So you would say:Ich bin gelaufen. Du bist gefahren. Er ist gekommen. Sie ist gewachsen. Wir sind gegangen. Sie sind gestorben.

NM
Answered by Nina M. German tutor

6181 Views

See similar German GCSE tutors

Related German GCSE answers

All answers ▸

What is the conditional tense?


How do I know if a word is masculine, feminine or neuter?


How is the future I tense formed?


Translate into German: My friends and I like to help old people. We have no time now because we get a lot of homework. Last week I went shopping for my grandmother when she was ill and she gave me some money. I will use it for my holiday


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2026 by IXL Learning