I know "ich bin" is I am, but I am wondering about the past and the past participle.
2006-12-10 11:48:10 · 10 answers · asked by ifyousaysooooooooooo 2 in Travel ➔ Germany ➔ Other - Germany
Its perfectly alright to translate both with: I war.
Using the perfect grammar you can also translate I have been with Ich bin gewesen, but as a native German speaker I would not use this phrase in a conversation...sounds weird..
2006-12-10 23:46:09 · answer #1 · answered by Tanja S 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Actually, "Ich war" and "Ich bin gewesen" mean the same thing... Though I've never really figured out how to PERFECTLY say "I have been", I'd say it depends on the context of the sentence you want to use.
"Ich war" is the imperfect past tense of the word, typically imperfect past is only used in literature and other published works, but there are exceptions to what's acceptable in spoken language, and "war" is one of them. "Ich bin gewesen" is the typical form of spoken language, the perfect past, it's what you use when you're speaking. Another example would be "Ich bin gefahren", it still means, "I rode/drove", not, "I have been riding".
2006-12-10 19:59:15 · answer #2 · answered by Ultima vyse 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Ich war = I was
Ich bin gewesen = I have been
2006-12-13 03:14:38 · answer #3 · answered by sunshine 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ich war und ich bin gewesen both mean I was, just the first is präteritum and the second is perfekt. Generally, except for haben,sein and modals you use the perfect in speech and the präteritum in formal writing, in South Germany esp. they regard the use of präteritum as being stuffy. Ich war gewesen is the plusperfeckt and you use it when there are 2 actions and one took place before the other.
2006-12-10 20:26:46 · answer #4 · answered by u_wish1984 3 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Ich war I was
Ich bin gewesen I have been
2006-12-10 19:56:55 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Ich war is I was and Ich bin gewesen is I have been
2006-12-10 19:56:33 · answer #6 · answered by Maverik42 3 · 6⤊ 0⤋
I was: Ich war
I have been: Ich bin gewesen
Bonus:
I had been: Ich war gewesen
Good luck
2006-12-11 05:33:49 · answer #7 · answered by letzter_wolpertinger 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I was is "Ich war" remember that w has a v sound
I have been is"Ich bin gewesen"
2006-12-10 20:00:39 · answer #8 · answered by BikerJim 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That is not enough info---German has many phrases for the same thing, depending on how/what the context is.
More info is needed.
Tell the phrase in English, and it can be translated properly!
2006-12-10 19:57:57 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
freetranslation.com will let you translate anything!
2006-12-10 19:55:33 · answer #10 · answered by emo ja 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋