anfangen
Appearance
See also: Anfängen
German
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle High German anevāhen, from Old High German anafāhan, from Proto-West Germanic *anafą̄han. Equivalent to an- + fangen.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈanˌfaŋən/, [ˈanˌfaŋən], [ˈanˌfaŋŋ̩]
Audio: (file) - Hyphenation: an‧fan‧gen
Audio (Austria): (file)
Verb
[edit]anfangen (class 7 strong, third-person singular present fängt an, past tense fing an, past participle angefangen, auxiliary haben or (Northwest German colloquial) sein)
- (intransitive) to begin; to commence
- Das Konzert fängt gleich an.
- The concert is beginning shortly.
- (intransitive) to start [with zu (+ infinitive) ‘doing something’]
- Wann hast du angefangen zu rauchen?
- When did you start smoking?
- (intransitive) to begin, to start [with mit (+ dative) ‘something’]
- Morgen fangen wir mit dem Projekt an.
- Tomorrow we are starting the project.
- (intransitive) to start; to keep talking about [with von (+ dative) ‘a topic’]
- Er fängt ständig von seinen Hunden an.
- He’s always talking about his dogs.
- (transitive, colloquial) to begin something; to start something
- Wann hast du das Rauchen angefangen?
- When did you start smoking?
- Morgen fangen wir das Projekt an.
- Tomorrow we are starting the project.
- (transitive, colloquial) to put (something) to good use, to do [with accusative ‘something good, etc.’ and mit (+ dative) ‘with something’]
- Haben Sie nichts Besseres mit Ihrer Zeit anzufangen?
- Don't you have anything better to do with your time?
Usage notes
[edit]- The normal auxiliary for this verb is haben: Ich habe angefangen (“I have begun”). The auxiliary sein is however used by some speakers in northwestern Germany in everyday speech: Ich bin angefangen. (Many of these speakers however use the standard forms in formal contexts in speech and writing.) Compare the same construction in Dutch beginnen (“to begin”): Ik ben begonnen.[1]
- The construction of anfangen as a transitive verb (sense 5) is perfectly acceptable in spoken German, but would not be common in formal writing.
Conjugation
[edit]infinitive | anfangen | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
present participle | anfangend | ||||
past participle | angefangen | ||||
zu-infinitive | anzufangen | ||||
auxiliary | haben or sein1 | ||||
indicative | subjunctive | ||||
singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
present | ich fange an | wir fangen an | i | ich fange an | wir fangen an |
du fängst an | ihr fangt an | du fangest an | ihr fanget an | ||
er fängt an | sie fangen an | er fange an | sie fangen an | ||
preterite | ich fing an | wir fingen an | ii | ich finge an2 | wir fingen an2 |
du fingst an | ihr fingt an | du fingest an2 du fingst an2 |
ihr finget an2 ihr fingt an2 | ||
er fing an | sie fingen an | er finge an2 | sie fingen an2 | ||
imperative | fang an (du) fange an (du) |
fangt an (ihr) |
1Northwest German colloquial.
2Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
indicative | subjunctive | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
present | dass ich anfange | dass wir anfangen | i | dass ich anfange | dass wir anfangen |
dass du anfängst | dass ihr anfangt | dass du anfangest | dass ihr anfanget | ||
dass er anfängt | dass sie anfangen | dass er anfange | dass sie anfangen | ||
preterite | dass ich anfing | dass wir anfingen | ii | dass ich anfinge1 | dass wir anfingen1 |
dass du anfingst | dass ihr anfingt | dass du anfingest1 dass du anfingst1 |
dass ihr anfinget1 dass ihr anfingt1 | ||
dass er anfing | dass sie anfingen | dass er anfinge1 | dass sie anfingen1 |
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
1Northwest German colloquial.
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]- Anfang m
- Anfänger m
- anfänglich
References
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “anfangen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “anfangen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “anfangen” in Duden online
- “anfangen” in OpenThesaurus.de
Swedish
[edit]Noun
[edit]anfangen
Categories:
- 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 prefixed with an-
- German 3-syllable words
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with audio pronunciation
- German lemmas
- German verbs
- German strong verbs
- German class 7 strong verbs
- German verbs using haben as auxiliary
- German verbs using sein as auxiliary
- German verbs using haben and sein as auxiliary
- German intransitive verbs
- German terms with usage examples
- German transitive verbs
- German colloquialisms
- Swedish non-lemma forms
- Swedish noun forms