The past of sein and haben: war and hatte
War describes a past state or location; hatte says that someone had something or had time. Choose the verb for the meaning and change its form to match the subject.
For everyday past situations, sein often becomes war and haben becomes hatte. Compare: Heute bin ich im Hotel; gestern war ich dort. Heute habe ich Zeit; gestern hatte ich Zeit.
The subject changes the form: ich war / hatte, du warst / hattest, er or sie war / hatte, wir waren / hatten, ihr wart / hattet, sie or formal Sie waren / hatten. The table shows these forms side by side.
Ask what the sentence means. War describes where someone was or what a situation was like. Hatte describes possession, an appointment, time or another thing someone had. In a negative sentence: Ich hatte keine Zeit.
Keep the finite verb in second position in a statement: Gestern war ich zu Hause. A yes/no question starts with it: Warst du dort? German also has Perfekt forms; this topic practises the frequent simple-past forms of these two verbs, not every way to tell a past story.
| Person | sein | haben |
|---|---|---|
| ich | war | hatte |
| du | warst | hattest |
| er / sie / es | war | hatte |
| wir | waren | hatten |
| ihr | wart | hattet |
| sie / Sie | waren | hatten |
Examples
Gestern war ich zu Hause.
Yesterday I was at home.
War describes a location in the past; ich takes war.
Früher hatten wir ein kleines Büro.
We used to have a small office.
Hatten expresses past possession; wir takes hatten.
Wart ihr gestern im Lager?
Were you all in the warehouse yesterday?
The question begins with the finite verb; ihr takes wart.
Die Gäste hatten keine Reservierung, aber das Hotel war nicht voll.
The guests had no reservation, but the hotel was not full.
Hatten describes the missing reservation; war describes the hotel's condition.