The German Verb sein (to be) — Full Conjugation
After this lesson you can say who you are, where you are from and how you feel.
Do this first: Personal pronouns
Übungen
Eight exercises on what you just watched. Get 80% and the lesson is marked done and added to your A1 progress.
1 / 8 · Type the missing word
2 / 8 · Type the missing word
3 / 8 · Word order
Put the words in the right order.
I am Mario.
4 / 8 · Word order
Put the words in the right order.
You are very kind.
5 / 8 · Choose
How do you say “I am 30 years old”?
6 / 8 · Choose
Which is correct?
7 / 8 · Choose
How do you say “I am a doctor”?
8 / 8 · Choose
“I am working” in German is…
In short
German “to be” is sein, and it is irregular: ich bin, du bist, er/sie/es ist, wir sind, ihr seid, sie/Sie sind. It is the most common verb in German, so learn all six forms by heart rather than trying to derive them.
How it works
Sein is the German verb “to be”. Like its English cousin it refuses to follow any pattern — you cannot build the forms from the infinitive, so this is one of the few places in German where straight memorisation beats understanding a rule.
You need sein for almost everything you say early on: your name, where you are from, how old you are, how you feel, what your job is, and where something is. It is also one of the two helper verbs used to build the past tense (lesson 29), so the effort pays twice.
Note that German has no equivalent of the English continuous “I am working”. Ich bin arbeiten is wrong. German uses the plain present tense for both “I work” and “I am working” — so sein is used far less often than English “to be”.
| Person | German | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | bin | I am |
| du | bist | you are (informal) |
| er / sie / es | ist | he / she / it is |
| wir | sind | we are |
| ihr | seid | you are (plural, informal) |
| sie / Sie | sind | they are / you are (formal) |
Examples
- Ich bin Mario.I am Mario.
- Du bist sehr nett.You are very kind.
- Er ist mein Bruder.He is my brother.
- Sie ist Ärztin.She is a doctor.
- Wir sind aus der Schweiz.We are from Switzerland.
- Ihr seid zu spät.You are too late.
- Sie sind heute in Berlin.They are in Berlin today.
- Sind Sie Herr Weber?Are you Mr Weber?
- Das ist nicht richtig.That is not correct.
- Ich bin müde und hungrig.I am tired and hungry.
Mistakes to avoid
✗ Ich bin 30 Jahre.
✓ Ich bin 30 Jahre alt.
German keeps the word alt. Dropping it sounds unfinished, the way “I am 30 years” does in English.
✗ Ihr sind Studenten.
✓ Ihr seid Studenten.
seid is the form English speakers forget most, because English has no separate plural “you”. ihr seid, always.
✗ Ich bin kalt.
✓ Mir ist kalt.
Ich bin kalt means you are a cold person. To say you feel cold, German uses mir ist kalt.
✗ Ich bin arbeiten.
✓ Ich arbeite.
There is no continuous tense in German. The plain present covers both “I work” and “I am working”.
Wortschatz
The words from this lesson.
| sein | to be | |
| müde | tired | |
| nett | kind, nice | |
| richtig | correct | |
| falsch | wrong | |
| zu spät | too late | |
| der Bruder | brother | |
| die Schwester | sister | |
| die Ärztin | doctor (female) | der Arzt for a man |
| hungrig | hungry |
Kulturnotiz
When you give your job in German, you drop the article: Ich bin Ärztin, not Ich bin eine Ärztin. English needs “a doctor”; German does not. The same goes for nationalities — Ich bin Schweizerin, never Ich bin eine Schweizerin.
Common questions
+Why is sein irregular?
Because it is ancient and heavily used. The most frequent verbs in almost every language resist regularisation — English “to be” (am/is/are/was/were) is irregular for exactly the same reason.
+What is the difference between sie sind and Sie sind?
Only the capital letter, and it matters. Lower-case sie sind means “they are”. Capital-S Sie sind means “you are” when speaking formally. In speech, context tells you which one is meant.
+When do I use ihr seid instead of Sie sind?
ihr seid addresses two or more people you would each call du — friends, family, children. Sie sind is formal, and works for one person or many.
+Is sein used for the past tense too?
Yes. Sein is one of the two helper verbs for the Perfekt: Ich bin gegangen (“I went”). Verbs of movement and change of state take sein; most others take haben. That is covered in lesson 29.