fragen
Appearance
See also: Fragen
German
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle High German vrāgen, from Old High German frāgēn, frahēn/frāhēn, which is indirectly derived from Proto-West Germanic *frāgēn.[1]
Cognate with Saterland Frisian fräigje (“to ask”), Dutch vragen (“to ask”), Low German fragen (“to ask”), English frain (“to ask, inquire”), Swedish fråga (“to ask”), Icelandic fregna (“to hear of, learn about”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /ˈfʁaːɡən/, [ˈfʁaːɡŋ̩]
Audio: (file) Audio: (file) Audio: (file) - Rhymes: -aːɡn̩
- Hyphenation: fra‧gen
Verb
[edit]fragen (weak or mixed, third-person singular present fragt or (dialectal or colloquial) frägt, past tense fragte or (dialectal or colloquial) frug, past participle gefragt, past subjunctive fragte or (dialectal or colloquial) früge, auxiliary haben)
- (transitive) to ask [with accusative ‘someone’ and accusative ‘something’]
- Darf ich dich etwas fragen?
- May I ask you something?
- (transitive or intransitive) to ask for, to ask after [with nach ‘someone/something’]
- (reflexive) to wonder (literally, “to ask (oneself)”)
- Ich frage mich, wer mir helfen kann.
- I wonder who can help me.
Usage notes
[edit]- Generally, fragen has always been a weak verb. The strong forms of fragen are secondary and now obsolete in formal writing. They live on in dialects and colloquial varieties.
Conjugation
[edit]infinitive | fragen | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
present participle | fragend | ||||
past participle | gefragt | ||||
auxiliary | haben | ||||
indicative | subjunctive | ||||
singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
present | ich frage | wir fragen | i | ich frage | wir fragen |
du fragst du frägst1 |
ihr fragt | du fragest | ihr fraget | ||
er fragt er frägt1 |
sie fragen | er frage | sie fragen | ||
preterite | ich fragte ich frug1 |
wir fragten wir frugen1 |
ii | ich fragte2 ich früge1,2 |
wir fragten2 wir frügen1,2 |
du fragtest du frugst1 |
ihr fragtet ihr frugt1 |
du fragtest2 du frügest1,2 du frügst1,2 |
ihr fragtet2 ihr früget1,2 ihr frügt1,2 | ||
er fragte er frug1 |
sie fragten sie frugen1 |
er fragte2 er früge1,2 |
sie fragten2 sie frügen1,2 | ||
imperative | frag (du) frage (du) |
fragt (ihr) |
1Dialectal or colloquial.
2Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
Derived terms
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Friedrich Kluge (1989) “Frage, fragen”, in Elmar Seebold, editor, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache [Etymological Dictionary of the German Language] (in German), 22nd edition, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN
Further reading
[edit]- “fragen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “fragen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “fragen” in Duden online
- “fragen” in OpenThesaurus.de
Swedish
[edit]Noun
[edit]fragen
West Frisian
[edit]Noun
[edit]fragen
Categories:
- German terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- German terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- 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 derived from Proto-West Germanic
- German 2-syllable words
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:German/aːɡn̩
- Rhymes:German/aːɡn̩/2 syllables
- German lemmas
- German verbs
- German weak verbs
- German verbs using haben as auxiliary
- German mixed verbs
- German transitive verbs
- German terms with usage examples
- German intransitive verbs
- German reflexive verbs
- Swedish non-lemma forms
- Swedish noun forms
- West Frisian non-lemma forms
- West Frisian noun forms