The Luxembourgish past tense: perfect with hunn or sinn, and war and hat

Luxembourgish talks about the past almost entirely with one tense: hunn or sinn plus a past participle at the end of the sentence. How to build it, which verbs take sinn, how participles are formed — and the handful of verbs that still have a simple past, like war and hat.

Updated November 1, 2026 · 5 min read

The Long Room of the Old Library at Trinity College Dublin — Photo: Diliff, CC BY-SA 4.0, resized.

*Yesterday I worked late. We went to Trier at the weekend. I lived in Portugal.* In Luxembourgish all of these use the perfect: a form of hunn (to have) or sinn (to be) in second place, and the past participle at the end. Unlike German, the simple past barely exists — most verbs simply don't have one. The participles and auxiliaries below are from the conjugation tables of the Lëtzebuerger Online Dictionnaire (LOD), and every example sentence is LOD's, read by a native speaker.

How the perfect is built

hunn or sinn (conjugated, second place) + … + past participle (last). *Ech hunn haut näischt mat der Post kritt.* — I didn't get anything in the post today.

Ech hunn haut näischt mat der Post kritt.

Literally: I didn't get anything in the post today.

Meaning: kréien → *kritt*; näischt = nothing.

D'Schoulklass huet en Ausfluch gemaach.

Literally: The school class went on an outing.

Meaning: maachen → *gemaach* or *gemaacht* — LOD accepts both.

Hien huet eng Léier als Drécker ugefaangen.

Literally: He started an apprenticeship as a printer.

Meaning: A separable verb: the ge goes between prefix and stem — *u-ge-faangen* (ufänken).

Because the participle closes the sentence, everything else sits between the two verb parts — the word-order bracket. In a subordinate clause the whole verb goes to the end, auxiliary last: *…, well et sech wéigedoen huet*.

hunn or sinn?

Most verbs take hunn. Verbs of movement and change of state take sinn — the same verbs as in German, with very few exceptions. Of the 209 verbs in our conjugation tables, these are among those that take sinn:

Verb	English	Perfect (ech)
goen	go	ech si gaangen
kommen	come	ech si komm
fueren	drive, go by vehicle	ech si gefuer
lafen	run	ech si gelaf
reesen	travel	ech si gereest
fléien	fly	ech si geflunn
schwammen	swim	ech si geschwommen
ukommen	arrive	ech sinn ukomm
opstoen	get up	ech sinn opgestanen
bleiwen	stay	ech si bliwwen
sinn	be	ech si gewiescht
wuessen	grow	et ass gewuess
stierwen	die	hien ass gestuerwen

Note ech si gaangen but ech sinn ukomm: it is the same auxiliary, only the n-rule at work before g and before a vowel. And bleiwen (stay) takes sinn although nothing moves — as in German.

Mir sinn nomëttes an eisem Hotel ukomm.

Literally: We arrived at our hotel in the afternoon.

Meng Kolleegin ass fréi heemgaangen, well se de Kapp wéi hat.

Literally: My colleague went home early because she had a headache.

Meaning: heemgoen with sinn; and hat, the simple past of hunn, in the well clause.

Ech sinn an aller Herrgottsfréi opgestanen, fir meng Elteren op de Flughafen ze féieren.

Literally: I got up at the crack of dawn to drive my parents to the airport.

How participles are formed

Pattern	Examples (from the LOD tables)
ge- … -t — most regular verbs	spillen → gespillt, kucken → gekuckt, schaffen → geschafft, wunnen → gewunnt, léieren → geléiert
ge- … -en or a changed vowel — strong verbs	schreiwen → geschriwwen, drénken → gedronk, fannen → fonnt, huelen → geholl, bréngen → bruecht, denken → geduecht
no ge- — verbs starting be-, ver-, er-, ent-, and -éieren verbs	bezuelen → bezuelt, verstoen → verstanen, erklären → erkläert, probéieren → probéiert
ge in the middle — separable verbs	ufänken → ugefaangen, uruffen → ugeruff, opmaachen → opgemaach
short or no change — a few common verbs	kommen → komm, kréien → kritt, ginn → ginn, gesinn → gesinn, héieren → héieren, iessen → giess

Several participles have two accepted forms in LOD — *gemaach / gemaacht*, *gaangen / gaang*, *verstanen / verstan* — so do not be surprised to hear both. The strong participles are worth learning with the verb; every verb page shows them, and the 100 common verbs list puts them side by side.

Hien huet d'Fënster opgemaach, fir den Donst erauszeloossen.

Literally: He opened the window to let the steam out.

Ech hu meng Schlësselen néierens fonnt.

Literally: I couldn't find my keys anywhere.

Meaning: fannen → *fonnt*; hu is hunn before m.

Modals in the past

With a modal and another verb, the modal's participle looks like an infinitive: *ech hu misse goen* (I had to go). The full explanation is in irregular verbs and modals.

Mäi Frënd ass net matkomm, well en huet misse schaffen.

Literally: My friend didn't come along because he had to work.

Meaning: matkommen with sinn; huet misse schaffen — mussen + schaffen. And *well* with verb-second order, which speakers also use.

The simple past: war, hat and a few others

LOD gives a simple past for only a small set of verbs. In everyday speech you will mostly hear the simple past of sinn and hunn, of the modal verbs, and gouf (from ginn):

Verb	Simple past (ech / du / hien / mir / dir / si)
sinn	war, waars, war, waren, waart, waren
hunn	hat, has, hat, haten, hat, haten
kënnen	konnt, konnts, konnt, konnten, konnt, konnten
wëllen	wollt, wollts, wollt, wollten, wollt, wollten
ginn	gouf, goufs, gouf, goufen, gouft, goufen

LOD also lists simple pasts for goen (*goung*), kommen (*koum*), soen (*sot*), kréien (*krut*), wëssen (*wousst*), stoen (*stoung*), bleiwen (*blouf*) and denken (*duecht*). You will meet them in writing and in some speakers' everyday speech; for your own sentences, the perfect is always correct.

Fréier haten d'Leit gewéinlech méi Kanner ewéi haut.

Literally: In the past, people usually had more children than today.

Meaning: haten — simple past of hunn.

Hien hat nach ni eng Frëndin.

Literally: He had never had a girlfriend.

Meaning: nach ni = never (negation).

Villes, wat war, ass net méi.

Literally: Much of what was, is no more.

Talk about your week — a practice plan

Write five sentences about yesterday with hunn: *Ech hu geschafft, ech hu gekacht…* — check schaffen and kachen.
Add three with sinn: *Ech si mam Bus op d'Aarbecht gefuer.* — fueren.
Add one modal: *Ech hu misse fréi opstoen.* — opstoen.
Use war and hat: *D'Wieder war schéin. Ech hat keng Zäit.*
Say them aloud the next day without notes. For the Sproochentest, telling what you did last weekend is one of the most useful things to be able to do.

Practise the past in real sentences

16Word's Luxembourgish sentences include four pages on the past tense — what you did, past questions, mishaps, two-part stories — with native recordings. The first page is free.

Keep learning

Questions about the Luxembourgish past tense

How do you form the past tense in Luxembourgish?

With the perfect: hunn or sinn in second place and the past participle at the end — ech hunn haut näischt mat der Post kritt; mir sinn nomëttes ukomm.

Which Luxembourgish verbs take sinn in the perfect?

Verbs of movement and change of state: goen, kommen, fueren, lafen, reesen, fléien, ukommen, opstoen, wuessen, stierwen — plus sinn and bleiwen. All others take hunn.

Does Luxembourgish have a simple past?

Only for a small set of verbs. In everyday speech you mostly hear war (sinn), hat (hunn) and the modal pasts such as konnt and wollt; for everything else the perfect is used.

How do you say I was in Luxembourgish?

Ech war — the simple past of sinn. The perfect ech si gewiescht also exists.