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Grammar / A2 Grammatik (A2 Grammar) / Präteritum von "sein" und "haben"
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German A2 Lesson

Präteritum von "sein" und "haben"

Learn simple past forms of sein and haben for daily conversations.

The Präteritum is the simple past tense, mainly used in written German, but "sein" and "haben" are used in spoken German too.

Conjugation of "sein" (was)

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

Conjugation of "haben" (had)

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

Example Contexts

Ich war gestern im Kino. (I was at the cinema yesterday.)
Wir hatten keine Zeit. (We had no time.)
Wo warst du? (Where were you?)
Interactive Audio Companion: Click any word play button below to synthesize spoken pronunciation in native high-fidelity German (de-DE).

Knowledge Integration Check

Quiz section

Complete these targeted micro-assessments to embed syntax memory parameters.

1. Fill in the blank: "Wir ____ gestern glücklich." (were) fill in blanks
2. What is the Präteritum form of "haben" for "ich"? qcm
3. What is the Präteritum form of "sein" for "er"? qcm
4. Fill in the blank: "Wo ____ du gestern?" (were) fill in blanks
5. Fill in the blank: "Sie ____ keine Zeit." (had) fill in blanks