Das Verb „sein" (The Verb "to be")¶
Präsens-Tabelle noch nicht bestätigt
The Präsens table below is standard-German knowledge, written to prove
the pipeline end to end — it has not yet been directly confirmed in
class. ist and war (Präteritum) have been, via the Wochentage
examples. Confirm the rest and set status: reviewed.
Regel (Rule)¶
sein is the most irregular verb in German — its forms are not built from the
stem, so they have to be memorised as a set.
Tabelle (Table)¶
| Person | Form |
|---|---|
| ich | bin |
| du | bist |
| er / sie / es | ist |
| wir | sind |
| ihr | seid |
| sie / Sie | sind |
Beispiele (Examples)¶
- Ich bin Ishaan. — I am Ishaan.
- Bist du aus Indien? — Are you from India?
- Die Stadt ist schön. — The city is beautiful.
- Wir sind müde. — We are tired.
- Heute ist Dienstag. — Today is Tuesday.
- Morgen ist Mittwoch. — Tomorrow is Wednesday.
Präteritum (Past Tense): war¶
For talking about a day that has already passed, ist becomes war (was) — confirmed by class examples:
- Vorgestern war Sonntag. — The day before yesterday was Sunday.
- Gestern war Montag. — Yesterday was Monday.
Only this one Präteritum form (war) has come up so far — the rest of the
simple-past paradigm for sein isn't covered here yet.
Merke (Note)
wir and sie/Sie share the same form — sind. That one overlap covers three
of the six slots, so the list is shorter to learn than it looks.