Conjugation of the German Verb “Haben”

The word “haben” serves as a “helper verb” for conjugations of other verbs in certain tenses, such as “Ich
habe gesehen” (“I have seen”).

Present Tense (Präsenz)

ich habe I have
du hast you have
er/sie/es hat he/she/it has
wir haben we have
ihr habt you have
sie haben they have

Es hat so stark geregnet, dass die Straße überflutete. — It rained so hard that the road got flooded.
Ich habe drei Katzen und einen Hund. — I have three cats and a dog.
Wir haben uns auf dem Rückweg verfahren. — We got lost on our drive back.
Sie hat drei ältere Brüder. — She has three older brothers.

Simple Past Tense (Imperfekt)

ich hatte I had
du hattest you had
er/sie/es hatte he/she/it had
wir hatten we had
ihr hattet you had
sie hatten they had

Wir hatten riesiges Glück, dass wir unseren Flug nicht verpasst haben. — We had been really lucky not to have
missed our flight.
Ich hatte sie am Freitag gesehen. — I had seen her on Friday.
Hattest du den Film nicht schon gesehen? — Hadn’t you already seen the movie?
Sie hatten sich für fünf Uhr am Nachmittag verabredet. — They had agreed to meet up at five o’clock in the
afternoon.

Present Perfect Tense (Perfekt)

The present perfect (Perfekt) or compound perfect tense combines two “versions” of the verb “haben”. First, the
verb “haben” is conjugated in the present tense, followed by “gehabt” – the “basic” third-person form of the verb
“haben” with the added prefix “ge”.

ich habe gehabt I had/have had

du hast gehabt you had/have had
er/sie/es hat gehabt he, she, it had/has had
wir haben gehabt we had/have had
ihr habt gehabt you had/have had
sie haben gehabt they had/have had
Sie haben großes Glück gehabt. — They had been very lucky.
Ich habe gerade eben einen Unfall gehabt. — I have just had an accident.
Er hat als Kind einen Hund gehabt. — As a child, he has had a dog.
Sie hat bis Freitag Urlaub gehabt. — She has had time off work until Friday.
Past Perfect Tense (Plusquamperfekt)

The past perfect tense conjugation is constructed out of the simple past tense of the verb “haben” (such
as hatte) followed by the third-person form of “haben” with an added prefix: gehabt.

ich hatte gehabt I had had

du hattest gehabt you had had
er/sie/es hatte gehabt he/she/it had had
wir hatten gehabt we had had
ihr hattet gehabt you had had
sie hatten gehabt they had had
Ihr hattet Glück gehabt, dass euch nichts passiert ist! — You guys had had such luck that nothing happened to
you!
Wir hatten uns für Mittwoch verabredet gehabt, aber er ist nicht aufgetaucht. — We had agreed to meet on
Wednesday, but he didn’t show up.
Sie hatten eine Reise nach Frankreich geplant gehabt. — They had planned a vacation in France.
Ich hatte noch eine Karte für das Konzert übrig gehabt. — I had had a leftover ticket for the concert.

Future Tense (Futur)

In the future tense conjugation of the verb “haben”, just as with any other verb in the future tense, the helper
verb “werden” (to become) is used together with the infinitive form of the verb “haben”.

ich werde haben I will have

du wirst haben you will have
er/sie/es wird haben he/she/it will have
wir werden haben we will have
ihr werdet haben you will have
sie werden haben they will have
Mein Gehalt kommt am Freitag, dann werde ich wieder mehr Geld haben. — I’m getting paid on Friday, then I
will have more money again.
Sie wird am Montag Urlaub haben. — She will have time off on Monday.
Wir werden in einer halben Stunde Zeit haben, das zu besprechen. — We will have time to talk about that in half
an hour.
Ihr werdet noch ein Weilchen Zeit haben, bis ihr zum Flughafen fahren müsst. — You guys will have a little time
before you have to drive to the airport.

Future Perfect (Futur II)

This tense is used to describe events that will take place in the future, but will have already been finalized at the
point when you are talking about them. For the verb “haben” this means that the helper verb “werden” (to
become) is used here as well, along with two forms of the actual verb “haben”: one comes with the prefix ge—,
the other one is the actual verb “haben”.

ich werde gehabt haben I will have had

du wirst gehabt haben you will have had
er/sie/es wird gehabt haben he/she/it will have had
wir werden gehabt haben we will have had
ihr werdet gehabt haben you will have had
sie werden gehabt haben they will have had
Sie werden mit dieser Idee sicherlich kein Glück gehabt haben. — They certainly won’t have had any luck with
this idea.
Du wirst bestimmt eine Menge Spaß gehabt haben. — You surely will have had a lot of fun.
Ich werde bis dahin schon Urlaub gehabt haben. — I will have already had (or taken) my vacation by that point.