lehren
See also: Lehren
German
editEtymology
editFrom Middle High German lēren, from Old High German lēren, from Proto-West Germanic *laiʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *laizijaną, from *laizō (“lore”). Cognate with Low German lehren, Dutch leren, Afrikaans leer, Danish lære, Norwegian lære, Swedish lära. Related to lernen.
Pronunciation
editVerb
editlehren (weak, third-person singular present lehrt, past tense lehrte, past participle gelehrt, auxiliary haben)
- (transitive or intransitive) to teach (a class, a subject); to be a teacher
- Ich lehre Geschichte. ― I teach history.
- Sie lehrt an der Uni. ― She's a teacher at the university.
- (formal, transitive) to teach [with accusative ‘someone’ and accusative ‘something’]
- Meine Großmutter lehrte mich das Stricken.
- My grandmother taught me knitting.
Usage notes
edit- A more common word for sense 2, particularly in spoken German, is beibringen.
- Traditional grammar requires lehren (unlike beibringen) to be used only with accusative objects, i.e. with a double accusative as in the example above. However, a dative construction is also heard now and then. Thus:
- Meine Großmutter lehrte mir das Stricken.
- My grandmother taught me knitting.
Conjugation
editinfinitive | lehren | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
present participle | lehrend | ||||
past participle | gelehrt | ||||
auxiliary | haben | ||||
indicative | subjunctive | ||||
singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
present | ich lehre | wir lehren | i | ich lehre | wir lehren |
du lehrst | ihr lehrt | du lehrest | ihr lehret | ||
er lehrt | sie lehren | er lehre | sie lehren | ||
preterite | ich lehrte | wir lehrten | ii | ich lehrte1 | wir lehrten1 |
du lehrtest | ihr lehrtet | du lehrtest1 | ihr lehrtet1 | ||
er lehrte | sie lehrten | er lehrte1 | sie lehrten1 | ||
imperative | lehr (du) lehre (du) |
lehrt (ihr) |
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editFurther reading
editCategories:
- German terms inherited from Middle High German
- German terms derived from Middle High German
- German terms inherited from Old High German
- German terms derived from Old High German
- German terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- German terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- German terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- German terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- German 2-syllable words
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with audio pronunciation
- German terms with homophones
- Rhymes:German/eːʀən
- Rhymes:German/eːʀən/2 syllables
- German lemmas
- German verbs
- German weak verbs
- German verbs using haben as auxiliary
- German transitive verbs
- German intransitive verbs
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