How do I say in German, "I was" and "I have been?"?

Question

I know "ich bin" is I am, but I am wondering about the past and the past participle.

Answer 1

Ich war = I was

Ich bin gewesen = I have been

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

freetranslation.com will let you translate anything!

Answer 4

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..

Answer 5

I was is "Ich war" remember that w has a v sound

I have been is"Ich bin gewesen"

Answer 6

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".

Answer 7

I was: Ich war

I have been: Ich bin gewesen

Bonus:

I had been: Ich war gewesen

Good luck

Answer 8

Ich war is I was and Ich bin gewesen is I have been

Answer 9

Ich war I was

Ich bin gewesen I have been

Answer 10

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!