Sometimes you hear people say something like "ich bin gegangen" or "ich habe gesagt" to describe a past action in German. Here the verbs are conjugated according to the German Perfekt (past perfect) tense. A verb is formed as a past participle (gehen -> gegangen, sagen -> gesagt) and it's combined with a helper verb (either with "sein" -> "(ich) bin" or "haben" -> "(ich) habe"). But how would you know if you need to either use "sein" (e.g. as "ich bin") or "haben" (e.g. as "ich habe") to form the correct verb form in past perfect? Rule of thumb (with exceptions to the rule, as always): Use "haben" - with action verbs Use "sein" - with verbs describing state - with verbs describing directional movement Examples: zu machen --> action verb --> use "haben" ich habe gemacht du hast gemacht er/sie/es hat gemacht ... zu kochen --> action verb --> use "haben" ich habe gekocht du hast gekocht er/sie/es hat gekocht ... zu gehen --> verb describing movement --> use "sein" ich bin gegangen du bist gegangen er/sie/es ist gegangen ... zu sein --> verb describing state --> use "sein" ich bin gewesen du bist gewesen er/sie/es ist gewesen ... Try this grammar quiz below to test your knowledge on the German Perfekt form!