Haben: The Verb You’ll Use in Almost Every Sentence

You always have something, a sister, some feelings or lack of money, so let’s talk about how to use “to have” in German.

There are a few purposes for the word “haben”. One is the possession, like “Ich habe einen Hund”, which means “I have a dog”. But, it’s also used for status’s such as “Er hat Kopfschmerzen.” meaning “He has a headache”. It’s also another helper verb to assist with defining the past tense. “Du hattest mir geschrieben” means “You had written me”.

BTW, odd little side note here. “Du hast” by Rammstein, which is what the reference up top is from, is actually a bit of a play on words. Most folks will tell you that the song translates to, “you hate”, but that’s only partially true. “Du hast” the title of the songs means “you have”, but it sounds exactly like “Du hasst”, which means “you hate”. The inflection used when he sings just “Du hast” has many people thinking he is saying “Du hasst” which is where “You hate” comes from. The song builds on those words and eventually “Du hast” turns into “Du hast mich gefragt, und ich hab nichts gesagt”, which as mentioned above, translates to “You asked me, and I said nothing”. It basically plays on the idea that this person he is singing about hates him, and as the song progresses we find out, they asked if the singer wants to be “faithful till death do them part” or “love them till death do them part” and the singer said no.

Sorry, side tangent, lets get back to the topic at hand.

The Present Tense

So “Haben” means “have”, and here are the present tense conjugations for it.

Ich habe	I have
Du hast	You have
Er/Sie/es hat	He/she/it has
Wir haben	we have
Ihr habt	You all have
Sie haben	They have

* another quick note, In the Rammstein reference it said “Ich hab nichts gesagt”. “Hab” is just a spoken shortcut, or contraction. It’s not necessarily proper but not uncommon.

Possession

Let’s have a few examples as well so you can see how it’s used in a sentence, let’s do some possessive sentences first.

Ich habe Geld.	I have money.
Du hast Autos.	You have cars.
Er/Sie/Es hat einen Hund.	He/She/It has a dog.
Wir haben einen Ball.	We have a Ball.
Ihr habt einen Rucksack.	You all have a backpack.
Sie haben eine Katze.	They have a cat.

Let’s chat about these examples, as there are a few things that should immediately stand out.

First, every singular countable noun needs an article. This is why you see the use of einen and eine for every singular word.

Next, plural words don’t need the article. If you use a word like Autos, then skip the article.

The only slightly tricky part in all of this is the uncountable/mass-noun, words for things that can’t be counted for example water (Wasser) and rice (Reis ). These words don’t need an article either.

Status & Conditions

I also want to give you a list of examples for status’, like sicknesses etc.

Ich habe Kopfschmerzen.	I have a headache.
Du hast Fieber.	You have a fever.
Er/Sie/Es hat eine Erkältung.	He/She/It has a cold.
Wir haben Husten.	We have a cough.
Ihr habt Bauchschmerzen.	You all have a stomachache.
Sie haben Halsschmerzen.	They have a sore throat.

The Past Tense (Präteritum)

Ich hatte	I had
Du hattest	You had
Er/Sie/Es hatte	He/She/It had
Wir hatten	we had
Ihr hattet	You all had
Sie hatten	They had

In the following examples. I am going to throw in a curve ball for you, and add “viele”, which means many and “wenig” which is little (amount).

Ich hatte viel Geld.	I had a lot of money.
Du hattest wenig Zeug.	You had little stuff.
Er hatte viele Autos.	He had a lot of cars.
Wir hatten wenig Zeit	We had little time.
Ihr hattet viel Pech.	You all had a lot of bad luck.
Sie hatten wenig Glück	They had a little luck.

Viel and Wenig stay uninflected with mass-nouns. IE, Viel Geld, Viel Zeit, wenig Geld, wenig Zeit. They do get modified when the noun is plural, but this then depends on the case. You’ll find you will add -e for the nominative and accusative case, and -en for the dative etc. Cases are a whole new blog for a later time, so just, keep this in the back of your head.

I also want to throw some more examples for you that go over status’ like headaches and cough.

Ich hatte Kopfschmerzen.	I had a headache.
Du hattest Fieber.	You had a fever.
Er/Sie/Es hatte eine Erkältung.	He/She/It had a cold.
Wir hatten Husten.	We had a cough.
Ihr hattet Bauchschmerzen.	You all had a stomachache.
Sie hatten Halsschmerzen.	They had a sore throat.

The Future Tense (Futur I)

Before we get into the example and structure, there is a quick grammar lesson about sentences. In cases where you have a helper Verb that is conjugated, and a main verb, You will keep the conjugated verb (the helper verb) in the second place of a sentence, and then the main verb is at the end. Congratulations, you also just learned your first sentence structure and is important to understand the structure of the future tense of haben.

For the future tense, you have to add a new verb called “werden”. It’s what you conjugate, while keeping “haben” as the main verb. Because “haben” now becomes the main verb of the sentence, it will be added to the end of the sentence.

Ich werde viel Geld haben.	I will have a lot of money.
Du wirst wenig Zeit haben.	You will have little time.
Er/Sie/Es wird viele Autos haben.	He/she/it will have a lot of cars.
Wir werden wenige Katzen haben.	We will have few cats.
Ihr werdet viel Essen haben. *	You will have a lot of food.
Sie werden wenig Wasser haben.	They will have little water.

*I want to show you a Gotcha here. I had to be very careful with my capitalization. “Essen” is “Food” but “essen” is “to eat”. This matters, because a lower case e, would have made the sentence grammatically incorrect. “You will have a lot of to eat”, it would get the point across, sure, but stand out for sounding funny. If you do want to say that you have a lot to eat, you add “zu”. So it turns into “Ihr werdet viel zu essen haben”, which now means “You will have a lot to eat”.

Of course, a few examples for status’

Ich werde Kopfschmerzen haben.	I will have a headache.
Du wirst Fieber haben.	You will have a fever.
Er/Sie/Es wird eine Erkältung haben.	He/She/It will have a cold.
Wir werden Husten haben.	We will have a cough.
Ihr werdet Bauchschmerzen haben.	You all will have a stomachache.
Sie werden Halsschmerzen haben.	They will have a sore throat.

Putting It All Together

Haben is a big deal. If you can comprehend how to use “Haben” and “Sein”, then you will be well on your way to have full fledged conversations in German. Check out this very simple statement.

“Hallo, ich bin Michael. Ich hatte viel gegessen, und habe Bauchschmerzen.”

“Hey, I am Michael. I ate a lot, and have a stomachache”

Keep practicing, don’t forget your internet resources, and I’ll see you next time.