kriegen

See also: Kriegen

German

Etymology

From Middle High German kriegen (“to war, to conquer property or land”). Verbalisation of Krieg (“war”). Cognate to Dutch krijgen, Hunsrik krien.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkriːɡən/, [ˈkʰʁ̞̊iːɡ(ə)n], [ˈkʰʁ̞̊iːŋ̩]
• IPA^(key): /ˈkriəɡən/, [ˈkriɐɡ̊ɐn], [kʁ̞̊iɛɡɐ(n)]
• Rhymes: -iːɡən
• Hyphenation: krie‧gen

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

1. (chiefly colloquial) to get
2. (chiefly colloquial) to catch, to come down with
3. (dated, rare) to war

Usage notes

• Kriegen is relatively infrequent in the formal standard language, which prefers bekommen or erhalten instead. However, kriegen is very frequent in colloquial German, where the verb often retains the vowel shortening that is occurring in local dialects in the second and third person singular of verbs. Thus, (du) kriegst is often pronounced /krɪ(ç)s(t)/, (er) kriegt may be /krɪkt/, /krɪç(t)/. These pronunciations are not used for the rare sense “to war”.

Synonyms

• bekommen
• erhalten

Derived terms

Derived terms

• abkriegen
• einkriegen
• hinkriegen

• hochkriegen
• unterkriegen

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German Low German

Etymology

From Middle Low German krîgen. Verbalisation of krîg (“war”). Compare German kriegen, Dutch krijgen.

Verb

kriegen (past singular kreeg, past participle kregen, auxiliary verb hebben)

1. to get
2. to catch
3. to come down with

Conjugation

Conjugation of kriegen (class 1 strong verb)

infinitive	kriegen
indicative	present	preterite
1st person singular	krieg	kreeg
2nd person singular	kriggs(t)	kreegs(t)
3rd person singular	krigg(t)	kreeg
plural	kriegt, kriegen	kregen
imperative	present	—
singular	krieg
plural	kriegt
participle	present	past
	kriegen	(e)kregen, gekregen
Note: This conjugation is one of many; neither its grammar nor spelling apply to all dialects.