The German verb sein (to be).

The verb sein and its forms

The infinitive sein is the dictionary form of the verb. Unlike regular verbs, sein is completely irregular, so each personal form must be learned by heart.

• Ich bin Tom und ich bin ledig.I am Tom and I am single.
• Wir sind verheiratet.We are married.

Introducing yourself and others

To introduce yourself, use ich bin followed by your name. To introduce another person, use the fixed phrase Das ist, which means this is.

• Ich bin Anna.I am Anna.
• Das ist Maria und sie ist ledig.This is Maria and she is single.

Yes-no questions with sein

To ask a question that can be answered with ja or nein, move the conjugated form of sein to the very first position in the sentence. The pronoun follows immediately after the verb.

• Sind Sie Herr Weber?Are you Mr. Weber?
• Bist du verheiratet?Are you married?

Exceptions to remember

• The plural form ihr seid is spelled with d at the end, not t. Ihr seid hier.
• The formal pronoun Sie always uses sind and is capitalized even in questions. Sind Sie Frau Meier?
• The third-person singular form ist has a t, unlike the English word is. Er ist da.

Practice it in the course

This rule is chapter 3 of 31 in the A1 German course in Langvie, after German personal pronouns: ich, du, Sie and before German numbers, age and phone numbers. In the app the chapter goes on with 8 exercises and a short spoken conversation with an AI partner, which opens with Hallo! Wer sind Sie? Sind Sie neu hier?

Choose the correct form of sein. Ich ___ Tom. (bin / bist / ist)

bin. The subject ich always takes the verb form bin. I am Tom.

Every A1 chapter, in course order