The Präteritum of sein, haben and werden

sein (to be), haben (to have) and werden (to become) are irregular German verbs that are used very frequently.

• sein and haben also function as auxiliary verbs when forming the Perfekt, so their past forms appear frequently on their own.
• werden is the auxiliary verb for the future tense and the passive voice (Passiv), making its past tense important as well.

The Präteritum of sein

The verb sein has a completely irregular past tense. Its stem is war.

Conjugation

• ich war – I was
• du warst – you were
• er/sie/es war – he/she/it was
• wir waren – we were
• ihr wart – you were
• sie/Sie waren – they were / you were

Examples

• Gestern war ich krank. – I was ill yesterday.
• Wir waren im Kino. – We were at the cinema.
• Sie war sehr müde. – She was very tired.

The Präteritum of haben

The past tense of haben is hatte.

Conjugation

• ich hatte – I had
• du hattest – you had
• er/sie/es hatte – he/she/it had
• wir hatten – we had
• ihr hattet – you had
• sie/Sie hatten – they had / you had

Examples

• Ich hatte gestern keine Zeit. – I had no time yesterday.
• Hattet ihr viel Arbeit? – Did you have a lot of work?
• Wir hatten Glück. – We were lucky.

The Präteritum of werden

The past tense of werden is wurde. This is also an irregular verb and has an important role in the Passiv.

Conjugation

• ich wurde – I became
• du wurdest – you became
• er/sie/es wurde – he/she/it became
• wir wurden – we became
• ihr wurdet – you became
• sie/Sie wurden – they became / you became

Examples

• Er wurde Arzt. – He became a doctor.
• Ich wurde sehr müde. – I became very tired.
• Das Haus wurde schnell gebaut. – The house was built quickly.

Which verb should you use?

• sein → existence, a situation or a state: ich war müde (I was tired).
• haben → possession or ownership: wir hatten ein Auto (we had a car).
• werden → change or transformation: sie wurde Lehrerin (she became a teacher).

Summary

The three fundamental auxiliary verbs in the German past tense are sein – war, haben – hatte and werden – wurde.

• They should be learned by heart because they are completely irregular.
• Because they are used so frequently, they appear early in almost every text written in the past tense.

Practical steps

1. Memorise the three key forms: sein – war, haben – hatte and werden – wurde.
2. Practise each full conjugation aloud.
3. Write one sentence with sein for a state, one with haben for possession and one with werden for a change.
4. Review the example sentences and identify the subject and verb form in each one.