# Any English cognates of German \*sein\* or \*sind\*? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 27, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-cognates-of-german-sein-or-sind/286990 "2005-01-27T22:18:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-cognates-of-german-sein-or-sind/286990/1 "2005-01-27T22:18:13Z")
As with most IE languages, English uses radically different forms of the verb _to be_ in different tenses, moods, persons, and numbers. I’ll make a short list the various examples in English, and add what I assume to be the related forms in German or Danish. Note, I don’t give the particular tense or whatever because those are not the same between different langauges. [ul] [li]English _am_ German ??[/li][li]English _are_ Danish _er_[/li][li]English _be, been_ German _bin, bist_[/li][li]English _were_ German _war, waren_[/li][li]English _was_ German _gewesen_ [/li][li]English _???_ German _sein, sind, sei_[/li][/ul] Are there any English dialects that still use a cognate of German _sind_? ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-cognates-of-german-sein-or-sind/286990/2 "2005-01-27T22:47:29Z")
I think “sein” is equivalent to “be”. German “bin” is English “am”, and German “bist” is English “are” (2nd person singular). ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-cognates-of-german-sein-or-sind/286990/3 "2005-01-28T05:36:15Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > I think “sein” is equivalent to “be”. German “bin” is English “am”, and German “bist” is English “are” (2nd person singular). The OP’s not looking for translations (yours are correct, by the way) but for cognates, words which look alike and have the same meaning in two languages (as opposed to “false friends,” which look alike but have different meanings). The only example from the OP that I’d consider a cognate is were:_waren_. I’m not sure that _be_ and _sein_ have the same origins, though; any German etymologists out there? ---
**Author:** ![Asteroide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@Asteroide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asteroide)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-cognates-of-german-sein-or-sind/286990/4 "2005-01-28T08:07:04Z")
WAG - some of the german verbs appear to be Latin derived - _sind_ ~ _sunt_, so there may be an older/alternative German dialect which contains the cognates you’re looking for, rather than the reverse. Another place to look might be nordic languages - the Swedish word for _is_ sounds like _are_ (no idea how to spell it). ---
**Author:** ![aegypt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@aegypt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aegypt)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-cognates-of-german-sein-or-sind/286990/5 "2005-01-28T09:02:53Z")
Here’s the situation: Old English had two verbs for “to be”: wesan and béon. However, béon fell out of use, and is currently only used in the word “be”. Wesan, in Old English, only had the present tense (beon was used in other tenses) It had the following forms: (I) eom (you) eart (he, she, it) is (they) sind Later, in Middle English, wesan replaced béon, and was extended to the other tenses as “was” and “where”. Wesan is the same root that the German words for “be” use: sein, war, gewesen (“is, was, been”). It is also used in the word verwesen (“to rot”). So, “am”, “are”, “is”, “was” and “where” are forms of an old verb, wesan, which is also the root of the German words sein and sind. Not that you’d guess it just by looking at them. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-cognates-of-german-sein-or-sind/286990/6 "2005-01-28T10:02:47Z")
People who can talk about Old English cognates to German verbs. I love this place! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-cognates-of-german-sein-or-sind/286990/7 "2005-01-28T14:35:42Z")
Very informative post, **aegypt**! However, didn’t you mean “were” instead of “where”? ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-cognates-of-german-sein-or-sind/286990/8 "2005-01-29T01:15:57Z")
Nice, aegypt. I’ve always wondered the same thing.