Talking About Past Changes in German: Moving and Changing Jobs
Learn to say you moved to a new city or changed jobs in German, and share how you felt about these past changes using the perfect tense and simple feeling words.
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In this lesson you will learn to talk about changes that already happened: moving to a new city and changing jobs. German uses the perfect tense for these past events, built with haben or sein plus a past participle. You will also learn to say how you felt, using phrases like Ich war nervös or Es war aufregend. This is different from talking about career goals, which uses future forms like Ich möchte or Ich will. Here we stay in the past.
By the end, you can…
- say that I moved to a new city using the perfect tense with sein.
- say that I changed jobs using the perfect tense with haben.
- describe how I felt about a past change with simple adjectives.
- ask another person where they moved and how it was.
Listen once. Try it slowly. Then say it without looking.
Checking available voices…
Ich bin nach Berlin gezogen.
I moved to Berlin.
ikh bin nakh bair-LEEN guh-TSOH-gun
Use sein (not haben) with ziehen when it means moving house. nach + city, no article.
Ich habe die Stelle gewechselt.
I changed jobs (the position).
ikh HAH-buh dee SHTEL-uh guh-VEKS-ult
wechseln takes haben. die Stelle is a common word for a job position.
Ich war am Anfang sehr nervös.
At the beginning I was very nervous.
ikh var am AN-fang zair nair-VURS
am Anfang = at the beginning. Use war, the simple past of sein, for feelings.
Es war eine große Umstellung.
It was a big change/adjustment.
es var EYE-nuh GROH-suh UM-shtel-oong
Umstellung means a change in routine or adjustment, not a physical move.
Wie ist es dir damit gegangen?
How did you feel about it? / How did it go for you?
vee ist es deer da-MIT guh-GANG-un
A warm way to ask someone how they experienced a change. Use dir (informal).
Pronunciation guides are approximate. Slow playback keeps the original pitch.
Make it make sense
Useful pattern
For past changes, German usually uses the perfect tense: haben or sein + past participle. Movement from one place to another uses sein: Ich bin nach Hamburg gezogen. Most other actions use haben: Ich habe den Job gewechselt. The participle often starts with ge- and ends in -t or -en: gewechselt, gezogen, angefangen. Word order matters: the participle goes to the end of the sentence.
When to use it
Use these forms when you report a finished change: Ich bin letztes Jahr umgezogen. Ich habe im März die Stelle gewechselt. For feelings at that time, the simple past war is very common: Ich war müde. Es war stressig. To ask about someone else, say Bist du umgezogen? or Hast du die Stelle gewechselt? In southern Germany, Austria and Switzerland, you may hear the simple past ich zog instead of ich bin gezogen, but the perfect tense is understood everywhere.
Listen to each line, then take one part and reply out loud.
Hallo! Ich habe gehört, du bist umgezogen. Stimmt das?
Hi! I heard you moved. Is that right?hah-LOH! ikh hah-buh guh-HURT, doo bist UM-guh-tsoh-gun. shtimt das?Ja, ich bin im April nach Leipzig gezogen. Ich habe auch die Stelle gewechselt.
Yes, I moved to Leipzig in April. I also changed jobs.yah, ikh bin im AP-ril nakh LYP-tsikh guh-TSOH-gun. ikh HAH-buh owkh dee SHTEL-uh guh-VEKS-ult.Wow! Und wie ist es dir damit gegangen?
Wow! And how did you feel about it?wow! unt vee ist es deer da-MIT guh-GANG-un?Am Anfang war ich sehr nervös, aber jetzt bin ich glücklich.
At the beginning I was very nervous, but now I am happy.am AN-fang var ikh zair nair-VURS, AH-buh yetst bin ikh GLÜK-likh.A little context goes a long way
In German-speaking countries, small talk about moving and jobs is common, but people often keep feelings brief and factual at first. Saying Ich war nervös is fine and natural. In formal situations, use the polite Sie form: Sind Sie umgezogen? rather than Bist du umgezogen? In Austria and Switzerland, umziehen is understood, but übersiedeln is also used in Austria for moving house.
One thing to watch for
Ich habe nach Berlin gezogen.
Try this instead: Use sein, not haben, with ziehen when it means moving to a place: Ich bin nach Berlin gezogen. The verb ziehen is intransitive here and shows a change of location, so German uses sein. Compare: Ich habe den Koffer gezogen (I pulled the suitcase), where ziehen is transitive and takes haben.
Your turn
Try answering out loud before checking a possible answer.
1How do you say 'I moved to Vienna' in German?
Show a sample answer
Ich bin nach Wien gezogen.
Use sein + gezogen because moving to a city is a change of location. nach + city takes no article. Ich habe nach Wien gezogen would be wrong.
2Which helper verb goes with wechseln in the perfect tense: haben or sein?
Show a sample answer
haben, e.g. Ich habe die Stelle gewechselt.
wechseln does not show movement from one place to another, so it takes haben. The participle gewechselt goes at the end.
3How would you ask a friend informally: 'How did you feel about it?'
Show a sample answer
Wie ist es dir damit gegangen?
This is a natural informal question using dir. A valid alternative is Wie ging es dir damit? Both ask about the person's experience.
For past changes, use sein + gezogen for moving and haben + gewechselt for changing jobs, then add a simple feeling with war: Ich war nervös, aber jetzt bin ich glücklich.
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