stehlen

German

Etymology

  • Inherited from Middle High German stëln, from Old High German stelan, from Proto-West Germanic *stelan, from Proto-Germanic *stelaną.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /ˈʃteːlən/
    • Audio (Germany (Berlin)):(file)
    • Audio:(file)
    • Hyphenation: steh‧len
    • Homophone: Stelen

    Verb

    stehlen (class 4 strong, third-person singular present stiehlt, past tense stahl, past participle gestohlen, past subjunctive stähle or stöhle, auxiliary haben)

    1. (transitive or intransitive) to steal [with accusative ‘something’ and dative ‘from someone’]
      Er hat mir ein Buch gestohlen.He stole a book from me.
    2. (reflexive) to skulk, to move secretly

    Conjugation

    Synonyms

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    • Esperanto: ŝteli

    Further reading

    • stehlen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
    • stehlen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
    • stehlen” in Duden online
    • stehlen” in OpenThesaurus.de

    Low German

    Etymology

  • Inherited from Middle Low German stēlen, from Old Saxon stelan, from Proto-West Germanic *stelan, from Proto-Germanic *stelaną.

    Verb

    stehlen (third-person singular simple present stehlt, past tense stohl, past participle stahlen, auxiliary verb hebben)

    1. (transitive or intransitive) to steal
    2. (reflexive) to skulk, to move secretly

    Usage notes

    As in High German, the person from whom the thing is stolen is given in the oblique case. Thus, He hett mi en Book stahlen means: “He stole a book from me.” This is quite contrary to English usage, where “He stole me a book” would be the equivalent of Low German: He hett en Book för mi stahlen.

    Conjugation

    Conjugation of stehlen (class 4 strong verb)
    infinitive stehlen
    present preterite
    1st person singular stehl stohl
    2nd person singular stehls(t) stohls(t)
    3rd person singular stehl(t) stohl
    plural stehlt, stehlen stohlen
    imperative
    singular stehl
    plural stehlt
    present past
    participle stehlen (e)stahlen, gestahlen

    Note: This conjugation is one of many.
    Neither its grammar nor spelling apply to all dialects.

    Synonyms