sein and haben: where they part company with English
CEFR A1 · part 1
edumaterial's parts within the level. The European framework does not subdivide them.
Reading German aloud: ei, ie, z, v, w, chReading any German word aloud, knowing which letters sound different from how they are…Every noun takes a capital letterCapitalising every noun, and using those capitals when reading to find what a long…der, die or das: the gender of nounsChoosing der, die or das, and spotting the endings that give the gender away without…The present tense: six endings and the vowel that changesConjugating any regular verb in the present, and spotting the verbs that change their…The verb always comes secondPutting the verb in second place whatever the sentence starts with, and moving the…Asking questions in German: no auxiliary, and the seven W-wordsMaking both kinds of question: the yes/no one by inverting, and the one that starts with…The rule, in three lines
sein is «to be»: ich bin, du bist, er ist, wir sind, ihr seid, sie sind. haben is «to have»: ich habe, du hast, er hat, wir haben, ihr habt, sie haben. Both are irregular and worth memorising, because they turn up in every other sentence.
The usual slip. Assuming German splits exactly like English. Age does work the same, but «there is / there are» does not: German says es gibt ein Problem, never «es ist ein Problem», and es gibt never changes for the plural.
Why it catches you out. English already says «I am twelve», so the famous age mistake is not yours. Yours is «there is / there are»: es gibt, not «es ist», and it stays es gibt in the plural. The other is «I am cold», which is mir ist kalt, not ich bin kalt.