haben
to have
Haben (to have) is one of the most important German verbs to learn early. It does two big jobs at once: it works as a normal verb meaning "to have" or "to own", and it is the main auxiliary verb used to build the perfect tense for most other verbs. You will use haben dozens of times a day.
The conjugation is irregular and worth memorizing on day one: ich habe, du hast, er/sie/es hat, wir haben, ihr habt, sie/Sie haben. The two singular forms hast and hat drop the b, and that is what beginners most often get wrong, since they expect habst or habt. The simple past is hatte: ich hatte, du hattest, er hatte. The past participle is gehabt.
As a standalone verb, haben expresses possession: ich habe einen Hund (I have a dog), wir haben Zeit (we have time). The object sits in the accusative case.
The bigger role is grammatical. To say "I have visited Berlin", German uses haben as an auxiliary: ich habe Berlin besucht. Most German verbs build their perfect tense this way; only a small set of motion and state-change verbs use sein instead.
Haben also appears in a long list of common phrases that English handles with "to be": Hunger haben (to be hungry), Durst haben (to be thirsty), Angst haben (to be afraid), Recht haben (to be right), Lust haben (to feel like), and Glück haben (to be lucky). Knowing these expressions is essential for everyday conversation.
English
to have
Perfekt
ich habe gehabt
Partizip II
gehabt
Auxiliary
haben appears in the following vocabulary collections:
Ich habe einen Hund.
I have a dog.
Verb in Position 2 after the subject.
Wir haben heute Zeit.
We have time today.
Time (heute) usually comes early in the sentence.
Hast du eine Frage?
Do you have a question?
Yes/no questions begin with the verb.
- What does haben mean in German?
- Haben means "to have" in German. It works both for possession (ich habe ein Auto, I have a car) and as the auxiliary verb that builds the perfect tense for most other verbs (ich habe gegessen, I have eaten).
- How do you conjugate haben in the present tense?
- Haben is irregular: ich habe, du hast, er/sie/es hat, wir haben, ihr habt, sie/Sie haben. The du and er forms drop the b from the stem, which is the part beginners most often get wrong.
- What is the past participle of haben?
- The past participle is gehabt. You use it with haben itself as the auxiliary: ich habe Glück gehabt (I was lucky, literally "I have had luck"). The simple past form hatte is more common in writing.
- When do you use haben vs sein in the perfect tense?
- Haben is the default and works for most verbs, especially transitive verbs that take a direct object. Sein is used for verbs of motion (gehen, fahren, kommen) and verbs that describe a change of state (werden, sterben, aufwachen). If you are not sure, haben is the safer choice.
- Why does German say Hunger haben instead of "to be hungry"?
- German uses haben with a noun where English uses "to be" with an adjective. Hunger haben literally means "to have hunger", and the same pattern applies to Durst haben (to be thirsty), Angst haben (to be afraid), and Recht haben (to be right). It is one of the most useful patterns to learn early.