Ich bin ihm begegnet. (See 74.10.)
I met him (by chance).but:Ich habe ihn getroffen. (See 74.10.)
I met him (by chance or design).There are a small number of verbs which are used with sein even though they are
transitive verbs. Note especially los* werden ‘to get rid of ’ and durch* gehen ‘to go
through something’:Endlich bin ich ihn losgeworden!
At last I have got rid of him!Er war die ganze Zeitung durchgegangen.
He had been through the whole newspaper.See 36.3c (p. 86).
Also, haben can be used with intransitive verbs of motion when the focus is on the
general activity rather than on the specific question of where you went. Usage varies
here:Ich bin heute geschwommen.
Ich habe heute geschwommen.
I had a swim today.Ich bin in das kleine Becken geschwommen.
I swam into the small pool.Ich habe im kleinen Becken geschwommen.
I swam in the small pool.(d) As the previous example shows, some verbs can be used with both haben and
sein, with a change in meaning:Wir sind nach Köln gefahren.
We drove (travelled) to Cologne.Sie hat den BMW gefahren.
She drove (has driven) the BMW.Ich bin nach Oslo geflogen.
I flew (have flown) to Oslo.Die Versicherungsfirma hat ihn nach London zurückgeflogen.
The insurance company flew him back to London.Some verbs have more than one meaning, and this is reflected in the use of haben
and sein:Ein Unfall ist gestern passiert. (See 76.1g.)
An accident happened yesterday.Wir haben den Zoll noch nicht passiert.
We haven’t gone through customs yet.See also 42.3a (p. 109).
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VERBS