The German perfect tense with sein.

Perfekt with sein for movement

Verbs that show movement from one place to another form the Perfekt with sein instead of haben. The auxiliary verb sein changes to match the subject, while the past participle goes to the very end.

• Ich bin mit dem Bus zum Bahnhof gefahren.I went to the train station by bus.
• Wir sind zu Fuß zur Haltestelle gegangen.We walked to the bus stop on foot.

Word order in the sentence bracket

The conjugated form of sein takes position 2 in a normal statement or position 1 in a yes-no question. The participle always stays at the very end of the clause.

• Der Fahrer ist schnell zum Parkplatz gefahren.The driver drove quickly to the parking lot.
• Bist du mit der U-Bahn gekommen?Did you come by subway?

Exceptions to remember

• Never use haben with verbs that describe movement from place to place. Ich bin gefahren.

Practice it in the course

This rule is chapter 30 of 31 in the A1 German course in Langvie, after The German dative object: mir, dir, Ihnen and before German war and hatte: the past of sein and haben. In the app the chapter goes on with 8 exercises and a short spoken conversation with an AI partner, which opens with Wie sind Sie heute hierher gekommen?

Choose the correct auxiliary verb in Perfekt. Ich ___ mit dem Bus zum Bahnhof gefahren. (habe / bin / war)

bin. Verbs of movement use sein in the Perfekt. I went to the train station by bus.

Every A1 chapter, in course order