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When I look into a dictionary I see verletzen with haben coming in present and in perfekt but i see in book.

Er ist am Knie und am Bein verletzt.

Regards

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You told us what you observed, but you did not ask any question. So, I guess, you wanted to ask, why a form of sein is used in the sentence you found.

The answer is easy: This is not another tense, it is passive voice.

Auxiliary verbs for different tenses

When you need to use some German tenses, you need auxiliary verbs. German has 3 of them: haben, sein and werden.

The auxiliary verb »werden« is always needed for German future tenses (Futur I and Futur II). For two of the three German past tenses (Perfekt and Plusquamperfekt) and for Futur II you need either a form of »sein« or a form of »haben«. (Futur II needs two different auxiliary verbs.) Whether its sein or haben depends on the verb.

Rule of thumb: Verbs that describe a movement (gehen) and verbs that describe the change of a state (einschlafen) need »sein« all other need »haben«. There are some exceptions, and even a few differences between Austrian German and German German.

  • Präsens
    No auxiliary verb

    Lukas läuft einen Marathon. Erich trinkt Milch.
    Lukas runs a marathon. Erich drinks milk.

    Also Präteritum doesn't need an auxiliary verb: Lukas lief einen Marthon. Erich trank Milch.

  • Futur I
    The auxiliary verb is always a form of »werden«.

    Lukas wird einen Marathon laufen. Erich wird Milch trinken.
    Lukas will run a marathon. Erich will drink milk.

  • Perfekt
    Here you need either a form of »sein« or a form of »haben«, depending on the verb.

    Lukas ist einen Marathon gelaufen. Erich hat Milch getrunken.
    Lukas has run a marathon. Erich has drunk milk.

    Plusquamperfekt needs the same auxiliary verb, but in another grammatical form: Lukas war einen Marathon gelaufen. Erich hatte Milch getrunken.

    Futur II is the past of the future and therefore needs two auxiliary verbs. Werden for the future and haben or sein for the past: Lukas wird einen Marathon gelaufen sein. Erich wird Milch getrunken haben.

Auxiliary verbs for passive voice

But all examples given above are in active voice. Lukas and Erich are the subjects of all sentences and they are doing something in all sentences. The marathon and the milk are objects and they are influenced by the action.

But the sentence you found is in passive voice. "Er" is the subject, but "er" is not doing anything. "Er" is influenced by the action. So, this is not active voice. It is passive voice.

Passive voice is not another tense, but another direction of action. If a sentence is in active voice, then the subject performs or causes the action and the object (if there is one) is influenced by the action. But if a sentence is in passive voice, then the subject is influenced by the action. The part that performs or causes the action is often missing in passive voice sentences, or it is given as an object.

German has two kinds of passive voice, while English has just one:

  • Vorgangspassiv (passive voice of action)

    This describes an action that happens to the subject. To create a sentence in passive voice, you always need a form of the auxiliary verb »werden«, and the verb must be used as present participle. If you use Vorgangspassive you can have additional parts of speech, among them a prepositional object with the preposition »von« that describes the person or thing that causes or performs the action.

  • Zustandspassiv (passive voice of state)

    This kind of passive voice describes a state that is the result of an action that happened to the subject. Since this version of passive voice does not describe the action, there are no parts of speech allowed, that describe the action.

Examples:

  • Aktiv, Präsens

    Der dunkelhaarige Mann verletzt die junge Frau mit einem Messer am linken Bein.
    The dark-haired man injures the young woman with a knife on her left leg.

  • Aktiv, Perfekt

    Der dunkelhaarige Mann hat die junge Frau mit einem Messer am linken Bein verletzt.
    The dark-haired man has injured the young woman with a knife on her left leg.

  • Vorgangspassiv, Präsens

    Der Marathon wird von Lukas gelaufen. Die Milch wird von Erich getrunken.
    The marathon is run by Lukas. The milk is drunk by Erich.

    Die junge Frau wird vom dunkelhaarigen Mann mit einem Messer am linken Bein verletzt.
    The young woman is injured by the dark-haired man with a knife on her left leg.

  • Zustandspassiv, Präsens

    Der Marathon ist gelaufen. Die Milch ist getrunken.
    The marathon is run. The milk is drunk.

    Die junge Frau ist am linken Bein verletzt.
    The young woman is injured on her left leg.

The parts »by Lukas«, »by Erich«, »vom dunkelhaarigen Mann« and »mit einem Messer« can't be part of the sentence in Zustandspassiv because they are not suitable to describe the current state. They can only describe the action that lead to the state, but not the state itself. Only »am linken Bein« is allowed, because this part of speech is not only able to describe the action, but also the resulting state.

When you need passive voice in a tense that needs an auxiliary verb, then you need two auxiliary verbs. one is a form of sein and the other is a form of werden:

  • Vorgangspassiv, Perfekt

    Der Marathon ist von Lukas gelaufen worden. Die Milch ist von Erich getrunken worden.
    The marathon has been run by Lukas. The milk has been drunk by Erich.

    Die junge Frau ist vom dunkelhaarigen Mann mit einem Messer am linken Bein verletzt worden.
    The young woman has been injured by the dark-haired man with a knife on her left leg.

  • Zustandspassiv, Perfekt

    Der Marathon ist gelaufen gewesen. Die Milch ist getrunken gewesen.
    The marathon has been run. The milk has been drunk.

    Die junge Frau ist am linken Bein verletzt gewesen.
    The young woman has been injured on her left leg.

If the tense is Futur II, which already needs two auxiliary verbs in active voice, then you need three auxiliary verby for passive voice:

  • Vorgangspassiv, Futur II

    Der Marathon wird von Lukas gelaufen worden sein. Die Milch wird von Erich getrunken worden sein.
    The marathon will have been run by Lukas. The milk will have been drunk by Erich.

    Die junge Frau wird vom dunkelhaarigen Mann mit einem Messer am linken Bein verletzt worden sein.
    The young woman will have been injured by the dark-haired man with a knife on her left leg.

  • Zustandspassiv, Futur II

    Der Marathon wird gelaufen gewesen sein. Die Milch wird getrunken gewesen sein.
    The marathon will have been run. The milk will have been drunk.

    Die junge Frau wird am linken Bein verletzt gewesen sein.
    The young woman will have been injured on her left leg.

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There are two different meanings for "verletzen" and in Perfekt (rather: their PPP) they look similar but they are distinguished by using "sein" or "haben":

verletzt sein

is the state of being injured.

verletzt haben

means to have injured someone.

Ich bin verletzt. I am injured.
Ich habe (jemanden, Akkusativ) verletzt. I have injured/hurt (somebody).

The second meaning can be used literally as well as figuratively, for instance:

Ich habe dich durch meine harten Worte verletzt. I have hurt you with my harsh words.

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  • 2
    What you describe as two different meanings are in fact two different directions of actions, i.e. active voice and passive voice and in addition two different tenses. »Ich bin verletzt.« is Präsens + Zustandspassiv because it describes a state in the present that resulted from an action that was targeted to the subject. »Ich habe (jemanden) verletzt.« is Perfekt + Aktiv because is describes an action that the subject performed in the past.
    – Hubert Schölnast
    Commented Sep 12, 2023 at 7:56
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    @HubertSchölnast But a state and an action are different meanings; why is it wrong to say that verletzt (sein) has a different meaning than verletzen or verletzt werden?
    – David Vogt
    Commented Sep 12, 2023 at 8:37
  • The verb rühren is an example of a verb with several meanings. Meaning 1 (to stir), active voice: »James rührt den Martini.« Passive voice of action: »Der Martini wird von James gerührt.« Passive voice of state: »Der Martini ist gerührt.« – Meaning 2 (to move, to touch): »Erwins Geschichte rührt Johanna.« – »Johanna wird von Erwins Geschichte gerührt.« – »Johanna ist gerührt.« These are two different meanings. (»Rühren« has even more meanings: »Ich rühre keinen Finger mehr.« – »Der Name der Stadt rührt ...
    – Hubert Schölnast
    Commented Sep 13, 2023 at 6:40
  • ... von ihrer Lage am Fluss.«) But the verb verletzen always just means to inflict a wound (physical or psychological): »Walter verletzt Martin.« – »Martin wird von Walter verletzt.« – »Martin ist verletzt.« This is only one meaning, not two. Just the direction of action and whether its an action or a state is different. But that doesn't count as different meanings.
    – Hubert Schölnast
    Commented Sep 13, 2023 at 6:40
  • You may notice that I didn't say "the verb 'verletzen' has two meanings" but "'verletzen' has two meanings. I still fail to see what is wrong with that.
    – bakunin
    Commented Sep 13, 2023 at 7:12
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What you read in the dictionary is correct, the perfect tense of the verb "verletzen" uses "haben". (Present tense doesn't.)

In your example, "verletzt" is an adjective, not a verb.

In this case, it is exactly the same as in English:

For a state:

Er ist verletzt.
He is injured.

For an action (verb active):

Er hat (jemanden) verletzt.
He has injured (someone).

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