Gehen

German[edit]

Etymologyedit

From Middle High German , , from Old High German , , from Proto-West Germanic *gān, from Proto-Germanic *gāną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- (“to leave”). Cognate with Dutch , Low German , , English , Swedish and Danish . The form gēn instead of gān is of Bavarian origin, but many dialects of Central and Low German have -e- (from earlier -ei-) or ei in the 2nd and 3rd person singular present, in keeping with the Proto-Germanic irregular conjugation. The -h- was introduced into the spelling by analogy with , in which it had become mute but was retained in spelling.

Pronunciationedit

• IPA(key): /ˈɡeːən/, (official standard, but less common)
• IPA(key): /ɡeːn/, (predominant)
• Rhymes: -eːən, -eːn
• Hyphenation: ge‧hen

• (file)

• (Bavaria)

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Verbedit

gehen (class 7 , third-person singular simple present , past tense , past participle , past subjunctive , auxiliary )

1. () to go, to walk

   Lass uns beide mit dem Hund gehen. ― Let’s walk the dog together.

   Ich sah die Kinder über die Straße gehen. ― I saw the children walk/go across the street.

2. () to leave

   Ich gehe jetzt. ― I’m leaving now.

3. () to leave, to take off (areoplane, train)

   Wann geht dein Zug?

   When is your train leaving?

4. (, ) to be going; to be alright; indicates how the dative object fares

   Wie geht es dir? ― How are you doing?

   Es geht mir gut. ― I’m doing well. (Literally, “It goes well for me.”)

   Es geht. ― It’s alright.

5. (slightly , ) to be possible

   Das würde vielleicht gehen. ― That might be possible.

6. (, ) to work, to function (of a machine, method or the like)

   Synonym:

   Der Kaffeeautomat geht nicht. ― The coffee dispenser doesn’t work.

   2014, Der Spiegel, issue 21/2014, page 62:
   Aber erst in Beirut lernte sie, wie professionelles Kochen geht, die Logistik, das Timing, die Organisation, um mehrere Hundert Mahlzeiten zuzubereiten.
   But not until Beirut she learned how professional cooking works, the logistics, the timing, the organization for preparing several hundred meals.

7. (, ) to last, to go for, to go on, to be in progress

   Das ging für eine halbe Stunde oder so. ― This went on for half an hour or so.

   Die Sitzung geht bis ein Uhr. ― The session is scheduled until one o’clock.

8. (, ) to be (on) (to pay)

   Die Getränke gehen auf mich. ― Drinks are on me.

9. (regional or , , , with auf followed by a time) to approach; to be going (on some one)

   Es geht auf 8 Uhr. ― It’s going on 8 o’clock.

Usage notesedit

Unlike English to go, German gehen does not mean «to travel somewhere» in general. A distinction must be made between gehen (walk), (go by bike, car, train, or ship), and (go by plane). If used with a place one cannot or would not commonly walk to, gehen often implies that one intends to stay there permanently, e.g.: Ich gehe nach New York. – I’m going to live in New York.

Conjugationedit

Conjugation of gehen

Composed forms of gehen

Note: The 2nd person plural imperative can also be , now in archaic or poetic style.

Derived termsedit

• gehen (“to walk, to go by foot”)
• drübergehen
• herabgehen
• heruntergehen
• hinabgehen
• hinübergehen
• hinuntergehen
• schlafengehen

gehts