Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to correctly conjugate the verb “haben” (to have) in the present tense, and recognize its role beyond its own literal meaning.

Lesson Explanation

Haben (to have) is, alongside sein (Part 1, Lesson 6), one of the two most essential German verbs, and it is also genuinely irregular:

ich habe          (I have)
du hast            (you have, informal)
er/sie/es hat      (he/she/it has)
wir haben          (we have)
ihr habt           (you all have)
sie/Sie haben      (they have / you have, formal)

A genuinely useful, specific pattern, mirroring what English speakers may have seen in other Romance languages: German uses haben, not sein, for expressions English expresses with “to be” — Ich habe Hunger. (I am hungry, literally “I have hunger”), Ich habe Angst. (I am afraid, literally “I have fear”).

A genuinely important, forward-looking note: haben also serves as the auxiliary verb for forming the Perfekt tense for most verbs — covered directly in Part 5, Lesson 1.

Practice Questions