The verbs sein and haben in the simple past tense in German

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The verbs sein and haben in the simple past tense

This is how sein (to be) and haben (to have) are conjugated in the Präteritum (simple past tense):

sein en
ich war
du warst
er/sie/es war
wir waren
ihr wart
sie/Sie waren
haben en
ich hatte
du hattest
er/sie/es hatte
wir hatten
ihr hattet
sie/Sie hatten

Note: in spoken German, the verbs sein (to be) and haben (to have) are mostly used in the simple past tense, not in the perfect tense (for example, ich war rather than ich bin gewesen).

Tim hatte Angst.

Tim was afraid.

Der Plan war nicht optimal.

The plan was not ideal.


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