wünschen

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See also: Wünschen

German

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Etymology

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From Middle High German wünschen, wunschen, from Old High German wunsken (to choose, wish, desire), from Proto-West Germanic *wunskijan (to wish), from Proto-Germanic *wunskijaną (to wish), derived from *wunskaz, *wunskō (wish, desire), from Proto-Indo-European *wun-, *wenh₁- (to wish, love). Cognate with Dutch wensen (to wish), English wish, Danish ønske (to wish), and further Sanskrit वांछ् (vāṃch, to want). Related to German Wonne (lust, desire). See also winsome, wone.

Pronunciation

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  • Audio (Austria):(file)
  • IPA(key): /ˈvʏnʃən/, [ˈvʏnʃn̩]
  • Audio:(file)

Verb

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wünschen (weak, third-person singular present wünscht, past tense wünschte, past participle gewünscht, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive, dative reflexive) to wish for; to make a wish for; to want; to desire
    Ich wünsche mir ein Meerschweinchen.
    I want a guinea pig.
  2. (transitive) to wish [with dative ‘someone’ and accusative ‘something’]
    Ich wünsche dir alles Gute.
    I wish you all the best.
  3. (transitive, formal) to demand, to order
    Ich wünsche eine Erklärung!
    I demand an explanation!
  4. (transitive, formal, chiefly in the negative) to tolerate, to brook
    Ich wünsche ein solches Verhalten nicht.
    I will not brook such behaviour.

Usage notes

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  • If what is being wished for is not a thing, but for a statement to be true, the Subjunctive II form is used for both wünschen and the verb in the statement. (This doesn't include when the statement is introduced with dass.) For example:
    Ich wünschte, ich wäre eine Prinzessin.
    I wish I were a princess.
    Ich wünschte, ich hätte einen Drachen.
    I wish I had a dragon.
    Ich wünschte, es gäbe echte Drachen.
    I wish there were real dragons.

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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References

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  • Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache, Friedrich Kluge

Further reading

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