war, hatte

was, were, had (simple past of sein and haben)

FormSubjekt + war/hatte (Position 2) + Rest

Meaning and usage

In spoken German most verbs talk about the past in the perfect. sein and haben are the exception: they usually use the simple past. You hear Ich war müde and Ich hatte keine Zeit much more often than Ich bin müde gewesen or Ich habe keine Zeit gehabt, though both are correct.

The forms are ich war, du warst, er war, wir waren, ihr wart, sie waren, and ich hatte, du hattest, er hatte, wir hatten, ihr hattet, sie hatten. A common mistake is the wrong helper in the perfect: Ich habe müde gewesen instead of Ich bin müde gewesen.

Examples 6

Warum warst du gestern nicht zu Hause?

Why weren't you at home yesterday?

Ich war fast die ganze Nacht wach.

I've been up most of the night.

Er hatte viel Geld auf der Bank.

He had a lot of money in the bank.

Er hatte ein Buch in der Hand.

He had a book in his hand.

Ihre Hände waren so kalt wie Eis.

Her hands were as cold as ice.

Ich hatte nicht sehr viel zu tun.

I wasn't very busy.

Test yourself

1 Sprachbausteine

Gestern ich keine Zeit.
Show answer
Correct answer: hatte

Zeit haben means to have time, and with gestern it needs the past: hatte.
- bin is the present of sein.
- war is the past of sein, and Zeit goes with haben.
- habe is the present, and gestern needs the past.

In this topic: Perfect tense

Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.