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Sein in Past Tense
Sein Imperfekt
☰ List of all topics in the level A1
This lesson contains topics:
1. Sein conjugation in the past tense
Singular | Plural |
---|---|
1. person | |
ich war (I was)
|
wir waren (we were)
|
2. person, familiar form | |
du warst (you were)
|
ihr wart (you were)
|
2. person, polite form | |
Sie waren (you were)
|
Sie waren (you were)
|
3. person | |
er war (he was)
es war (it was) sie war (she was) |
sie waren (they were)
|
Examples:
Ich war gestern krank. (I was ill yesterday.)
Wir waren gestern krank. (We were ill yesterday.)
Du warst gestern krank. (You were ill yesterday.)
Ihr wart gestern krank. (You (plural) were ill yesterday.)
Sie waren gestern krank. (You were ill yesterday.) Polite form
Er war gestern krank. (He was ill yesterday.)
Sie war gestern krank. (She was ill yesterday.)
Sie waren gestern krank. (They were ill yesterday.)
2. Forming question with verb sein
Interrogative sentences (questions) are of two types:
- Those that include interrogative pronouns such as who, where, and so on.
- Those that do not involve interrogative pronouns.
In German, when we ask a question without an interrogative pronoun, the sentence structure is similar to that in English, i.e., the verb replaces the subject as the first element in the sentence. The second element is the subject, and then it is a single object or a complex complement, as the case may be.
Ich bin Jan. (I am Jan.)
Bin ich Jan? (Am I Jan?)
Du bist nicht Jan. (You are not Jan)
Bist du nicht Jan? (Are not you Jan?)
Er ist Dr. Müller. (He is Dr. Müller.)
Ist er Dr. Müller? (Is he Dr. Müller?)
Sie sind Familie Schäfer. (They are Schäfer family.)
Sind sie Familie Schäfer? (Are they Schäfer family?)
Herr Schäfer ist krank. (Mr. Schäfer is ill.)
Ist Herr Schäfer krank? (Is Mr. Schäfer ill?)
Herr Schäfer war gestern krank. (Mr. Schäfer was ill yesterday.)
War Herr Schäfer gestern krank? (Was Mr. Schäfer ill yesterday?)
Herr Schäfer und seine Frau sind krank. (Mr. Schäfer and his wife are ill.)
Sind sie beide krank? (Are they both ill?)
Sind Sie beide krank? (Are you both ill?)
Ist sie krank? (Is she ill?)
Sind sie krank? (Are they ill?)
Sind Sie krank? (Are you ill?)
Mein Bruder ist Krankenpfleger. (My brother is a nurse.)
Ist dein Bruder auch Krankenpfleger? (Is your brother also a nurse?)
Nein, mein Bruder ist Arzt aber meine Schwester ist Krankenpflegerin. (No, my brother is a doctor but my sister is a nurse.)
Ist deine Schwester Ärztin? (Is your sister a doctor?)
Nein, meine Mutter ist Ärztin. (No, my mother is a doctor.)
Bist du auch Arzt? (Are you a doctor too?)
Ich bin Student. (I am a student)
Bist du Medizinstudent? (Are you a medical student?)
Genau. (Exactly)
Vocabulary building
Next day at the school
Erwin: Hallo Jan. (Hello Jan)
Thomas: Hallo. Ich bin aber nicht Jan. (Hello. I am not Jan.)
Erwin: Aber gestern warst du Jan oder? (But you were Jan yesterday or?)
Thomas: Nein, ich war auch gestern Thomas. (No, I was also yesterday Thomas.)
Erwin: Okay mein Fehler. Entschuldigung. (Ok my fault. Sorry)
Thomas: Kein Problem (No problem)
Erwin : Tschüs (Bye)
Thomas: Tschüs (Bye)
Wortschatz (Vocabulary)
gestern (yesterday)
heute (today)
Wie geht es Ihnen? (How are you?)
In short form this is, "Wie geht's?"
Wie (how) is an interrogative pronoun. "Geht" is the conjugated form of verb "gehen" (to go). We will start learning verbs and their conjugation from next lesson.
So the litteral meaning of "wid geht" is "how's going".
zu Hause (at home)
gut (good)
Ich will es heute nicht fahren. (I don't want to drive it today.)
will (want to) is conjuagated form modal verb wollen.
es (it)
fahren (to drive), for example, ich will Ihr Auto fahren. (I want to drive your car.),
Ich will Ihr Audi fahren. (I want to drive your Audi.)
Ich will Ihr Audi nicht fahren. (I don't want to drive your Audi.)
Sie waren doch normal. (You were normal.)
"doch" is a particle. Particles don't have meanings. They are just used to emphasize.
Similarly in the second dialog "Next day at the school", the sentence Ich bin aber nicht Jan. (Hello. I am not Jan.) has a particle "aber". "Aber" means "but", here in this sentence it is being used to emphasize.
immer (always)
der Fehler (mistake)
die Entschuldigung (sorry)
das Problem (problem)
Tschüs or Tschüss (bye (informal))
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