Sie hat ihn gefragt.
She asked him.When the verb has a transitive sense even though the object is not expressed in the
accusative. The verb may take a dative object (see 19.6), for example, or be a
prepositional verb (see 38 ):
Wir haben ihm geholfen.
We helped him.Der Fall der Mauer hat zu dieser Entwicklung beigetragen.
The fall of the Wall has contributed to this development.When the verb is intransitive and expresses an ongoing state:
Wir haben lange gestanden und gewartet.
We (have) stood and waited for a long time.Es hat lange gedauert.
It lasted a long time./It took a long time.Es hat geregnet, geschneit und gedonnert.
It (has) rained, snowed and thundered.(b) The auxiliary is sein when the verb is used intransitively and:
When the verb is sein, bleiben, werden:
Es ist sehr warm geblieben.
It remained very warm.When the verb is a verb of motion:
Sind Sie nach Köln gefahren oder geflogen?
Did you drive or fly to Cologne?When the verb expresses something that has happened to people that is outside their
control rather than something that people have done:
Sie ist 1934 geboren, 1992 erkrankt, und 1994 gestorben.
She was born in 1934, fell ill in 1992, and died in 1994.Es ist passiert. (See 69.2, 76.1g.)
Es ist geschehen.
Es ist vorgekommen. (See 69.2.)
It happened.(c) These guidelines offer a substantial aid to using haben and sein correctly. Note,
however, the following:
Es ist mir gelungen.
I succeeded (it worked out for me).but:
Es hat geklappt.
It worked out.(gelingen is an impersonal verb: see 42.3h.)
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Verb forms