{"id":93824,"date":"2023-10-17T06:07:31","date_gmt":"2023-10-17T10:07:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/german-auxiliary-verbs\/"},"modified":"2025-06-09T06:02:49","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T10:02:49","slug":"german-auxiliary-verbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/german\/german-auxiliary-verbs\/","title":{"rendered":"The Guide to German Auxiliary Verbs"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are many types of German verbs<\/a>. Auxiliary verbs are an important part of speech in both German and English.<\/p>\n

The three main German auxiliary verbs are sein<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/i>(to be), haben<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>(to have) and\u00a0<\/i>werden<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/i>(to become). These verbs are sort of “helping verbs” that can help to provide the mood or the context of a certain sentence.<\/p>\n

It’s really important to know which of these verbs to use<\/a>, because if you use the wrong one, it can cause a lot of confusion. So let’s dive in and learn how to use them correctly.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When to Use the 3 Common Auxiliary Verbs<\/h2>\n

The German verbs sein<\/em>, haben<\/em>\u00a0and werden<\/em> are used practically all the time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They’re used when talking about identity and state of being, and are even used as helping verbs when speaking in the past tense. For the purpose of this post, we’ll refer to them as the “common auxiliary verbs.”<\/p>\n

Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n

Ich habe<\/strong> Hunger.<\/em> \u2014 I have hunger\/I’m hungry.<\/p>\n

Er ist<\/strong> Lehrer.<\/em> \u2014 He is a teacher.<\/p>\n

Ich bin<\/strong> im Bett geblieben.<\/em> \u2014 I stayed in bed.<\/p>\n

The forms of sein<\/em> and haben<\/em> are more frequently used, but werden<\/em> finds its way into everyday conversation as well:<\/p>\n

Ich werde<\/strong>\u00a0alt.<\/em> \u2014 I am getting old.<\/p>\n

Werden<\/em> has many other different uses and cases<\/a>, but for the sake of this article, I’ll just refer to its simple present tense.<\/p>\n

You can already tell how important it is to get even these three verbs right. Otherwise, you’re in for a world of confusion.<\/p>\n

How to Conjugate the 3 Common Auxiliary Verbs<\/h2>\n

The above three auxiliary verbs are all irregular.<\/p>\n

What makes a verb regular or irregular is probably a bit out of the scope of what we’re talking about right now, but for our purposes, it means that there may not be an intuitive pattern to follow as you conjugate them<\/a>. You kind of just have to memorize and practice the different forms. Sorry!<\/p>\n

In my experience, it’s usually best to first look at a chart of all the different conjugations for each tense of a new verb you learn, especially if it’s irregular.<\/p>\n

So go ahead and check out the charts below for each of the auxiliary verbs in das Pr\u00e4sens<\/em> (simple present) and in das<\/em> Pr\u00e4teritum<\/em> (simple past). Make sure to copy them down yourself!<\/p>\n

Conjugations of Common Auxiliaries in das Pr\u00e4sens\u00a0<\/em><\/h3>\n

\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
<\/td>sein<\/th>haben<\/th>werden<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
ich<\/strong><\/td>bin<\/td>habe<\/td>werde<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
du<\/strong><\/td>bist<\/td>hast<\/td>wirst<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
er\/sie\/es<\/strong><\/td>ist<\/td>hat<\/td>wird<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sie<\/strong><\/td>sind<\/td>haben<\/td>werden<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
wir<\/strong><\/td>sind<\/td>haben<\/td>werden<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ihr<\/strong><\/td>seid<\/td>habt<\/td>werdet<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Conjugations of Common Auxiliaries in das <\/em>Pr\u00e4teritum\u00a0<\/em><\/h3>\n

\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
<\/td>waren<\/th>hatten<\/th>wurde<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
ich<\/strong><\/td>war<\/td>hatte<\/td>wurde<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
du<\/strong><\/td>warst<\/td>hattest<\/td>wurdest<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
er\/sie\/es<\/strong><\/td>war<\/td>hatte<\/td>wurde<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Sie<\/strong><\/td>waren<\/td>hatten<\/td>wurden<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
wir<\/strong><\/td>waren<\/td>hatten<\/td>wurden<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ihr<\/strong><\/td>wart<\/td>hattet<\/td>wurdet<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

As you can see, haben<\/em> and werden<\/em> are a little bit easier to handle than sein<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, sein<\/em> is one of the weirdest verbs to conjugate<\/a>, and it’s one of the most used verbs in the language, which is why you see a lot of it as a beginner German speaker.\u00a0But you’ll get used to it pretty quick!<\/p>\n

When Do You Use the 6 Modal Auxiliary Verbs?<\/h2>\n

Along with the three auxiliary verbs, German has what’s called die Modalverben\u00a0<\/em>(the modal verbs)<\/a>, which are the equivalent to what we call the modal auxiliaries in English.<\/p>\n

These six verbs are helping verbs that are typically accompanied by a second verb<\/strong> in order to create additional personal context for a sentence.<\/p>\n

Always remember that when using a model verb, the modal verb is the second element in the sentence<\/strong> while the second verb comes directly at the end of the sentence.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

Ich m\u00f6chte<\/strong> nach Deutschland reisen<\/strong>. \u2014 <\/em>I would like to travel to Germany.<\/p>\n

The verbs that make up die Modalverben\u00a0<\/em>are as follows:<\/p>\n