Perfect-Tense Auxiliary: sinn

Perfect Tense with Sinn

Level 2

Movement and change use sinn: Ech si mam Bus komm. (I came by bus.)

How It Works

1. How to build it
Conjugate sinn in second place and put the participle at the end: ech sinn, du bass, hien ass, mir sinn, dir sidd, si sinn. By the n-rule, sinn becomes si before most consonants: Ech si komm, but Mir sinn an d'Stad gefuer.

2. Verbs of movement

  • goen → gaangen: Mir sinn heem gaangen.
  • kommen → komm
  • fueren → gefuer
  • lafen → gelaf
  • fléien → geflunn
  • opstoen → opgestanen

When a movement verb has a direct object, it takes hunn: De Pilot huet den Helikopter geflunn (The pilot flew the helicopter).

3. Verbs of change

  • ginn (to become) → ginn: Hien ass krank ginn.
  • wuessen → gewuess
  • falen → gefall
  • passéieren → passéiert: Wat ass passéiert?

4. Sinn and bleiwen
sinn → gewiescht, bleiwen → bliwwen. English says I have been and she has stayed, but Luxembourgish uses sinn for both: Ech si krank gewiescht, Si ass doheem bliwwen. For sinn, the one-word past is even more common: Ech war krank. See Simple Past of Sinn and Hunn.

5. In subordinate clauses
Sinn moves to the end: Mir sinn ze spéit, well mir mam Bus komm sinn.

All other verbs use hunn; see Perfect Tense With Hunn. A good tip is to learn each new verb together with its helper verb and participle.

Examples (6)

  1. Ech si mam Bus komm.

    I came by bus.

    Sinn becomes si before the m of mam.

  2. Mir sinn an d'Stad gefuer.

    We went into town.

    Fueren is a verb of movement, so it takes sinn.

  3. Si ass doheem bliwwen.

    She stayed at home.

    Bleiwen takes sinn, even though nothing moves.

  4. Ech si krank gewiescht.

    I was ill.

    Word by Word: I am ill been.

    Sinn uses itself as its helper verb.

  5. Wat ass passéiert?

    What happened?

    Passéieren describes a change, so it takes sinn.

  6. D'Kanner si grouss ginn.

    The children have grown up.

    Ginn means to become here, so it takes sinn.

Common Mistakes

  • Using hunn with a verb of movement.

    Ech hunn an d'Stad gaangen.
    Ech sinn an d'Stad gaangen.

    Goen is a verb of movement, so it takes sinn.

  • Using hunn with bleiwen, as English does with stay.

    Si huet doheem bliwwen.
    Si ass doheem bliwwen.

    Bleiwen always takes sinn, even though English says has stayed.

  • Using hunn with sinn.

    Ech hu krank gewiescht.
    Ech si krank gewiescht.

    The perfect of sinn is made with sinn: ech si gewiescht.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Perfect-Tense Auxiliary: sinnLevel 2Perfect Tense with Sinn

Learn This First

Before Perfect Tense With Sinn, learn Perfect Tense With Hunn and To Be: Sinn.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

bleiwen