war / hat

Simple Past of Sinn and Hunn

Level 2

War is the past of sinn and hat is the past of hunn: Gëschter war ech krank (Yesterday I was ill), Ech hat keng Zäit (I had no time).

How It Works

The forms

  • sinn: ech war, du waars, hien/si/hatt/et war, mir waren, dir waart, si waren
  • hunn: ech hat, du has, hien/si/hatt/et hat, mir haten, dir hat, si haten

The polite form uses the dir forms with a capital letter: Wou waart Dir?, Hat Dir eng gutt Rees?

Spelling
Du waars is written with a double aa. Dir hat has no extra ending. Do not confuse hat (had) with the pronoun hatt (she). By the n-rule, waren and haten lose their n before most consonants: Mir ware midd, but Mir waren an der Vakanz.

Where people have been
With a place, war often means went or have been: Ech war gëschter am Kino (I went to the cinema yesterday), Waars du schonn eng Kéier zu Veianen? (Have you ever been to Vianden?). With an infinitive it says where you went to do something: Gëschter war ech eng Ausstellung kucken.

Other verbs
For almost every other verb, use the perfect with hunn or the perfect with sinn. The modal verbs also have a simple past: see konnt, wollt, sollt, duerft.

War and hat as helpers
With a past participle, war and hat form the pluperfect (had done): Ech hat scho giess.

Examples (6)

  1. Gëschter war ech krank.

    Yesterday I was ill.

    Word by Word: Yesterday was I ill.

    Gëschter comes first, so the verb war comes second and ech follows it.

  2. Wou waars du gëschter?

    Where were you yesterday?

    Word by Word: Where were you yesterday?

    The du form of war is waars, with a double aa.

  3. Mir waren an der Vakanz an Italien.

    We were on holiday in Italy.

    Word by Word: We were in the holiday in Italy.

    Waren keeps its n because the next word starts with a vowel.

  4. Ech hat keng Zäit.

    I had no time.

    Word by Word: I had no time.

    Hat is the past of hunn. It is spelled with one t.

  5. Hat Dir eng gutt Rees?

    Did you have a good trip?

    Word by Word: Had you a good journey?

    In a polite question, hat goes with Dir, just like the plural dir form.

  6. Et war kal, an d'Kanner haten Honger.

    It was cold, and the children were hungry.

    Word by Word: It was cold, and the children had hunger.

    Luxembourgish says you have hunger. Haten keeps its n before the h of Honger.

Common Mistakes

  • Writing hat (had) like the pronoun hatt.

    Ech hatt keng Zäit.
    Ech hat keng Zäit.

    The past of hunn has one t: hat. Hatt with two t's is the pronoun she, as in Hatt ass krank.

  • Spelling the du form with a single a.

    Wou wars du gëschter?
    Wou waars du gëschter?

    The official spelling of the du form is waars, with a long double aa, just like dir waart.

  • Using hunn as the helper for the perfect of sinn.

    Ech hu krank gewiescht.
    Ech war krank.

    Sinn forms its perfect with sinn: Ech si krank gewiescht. The shorter and more common way is simply Ech war krank.

How It Connects

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

war / hatLevel 2Simple Past of Sinn and Hunn

Learn This First

Before Simple Past of Sinn and Hunn, learn To Be: Sinn and To Have: Hunn.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

hunn