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10.6.2.1: Das Imperfekt Sein

  • Page ID
    108513
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    Verbs:Das Imperfekt - Sein

    The simple past of sein is used in both written and spoken language in the past tense. While ich bin ... gewesen is gaining some traction in colloquial speech, at this point it is still more common to hear ich war to say "I was ..."

    sein • be
    ich war wir waren
    du warst ihr wart
    er/sie/es war sie waren

    Frau Holle war in ihrem Haus, als das brave Mädchen in den Brunnen fiel. Frau Holle was in her house when the good girl fell in the well.
    Das Mädchen, wie erwartet, war sehr brav und hat die Brötchen, die im Backofen waren, herausgeholt, als sie das Mädchen um Hilfe gebeten haben. The girl, not unexpectedly, was very good and took out the rolls that were in the oven when they called to her for help.
    Sie hat alles weiterhin so schön gemacht, und am Ende sagte Frau Holle: "Weil du so brav warst, kriegst du von mir viel Gold." She continued to do everything so nicely, so at the end Frau Holle said to her: Because you were so good, you will get a lot of gold from me.

    vsp_05_01_frau-holle (1).gif


    This page titled 10.6.2.1: Das Imperfekt Sein is shared under a CC BY license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Zsuzsanna Abrams and co-workers (Center for Open Educational Resources and Language Learning) .

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