fehlen
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See also: Fehlen
German
Etymology
From Middle High German vælen, velen, valen, from Old French faillir, from Latin fallō. Cognate with English fail.
Pronunciation
Verb
fehlen (weak, third-person singular present fehlt, past tense fehlte, past participle gefehlt, auxiliary haben)
- (impersonal) for there to be a lack [with dative ‘to someone/something’ and an (+ dative) ‘of something’] (idiomatically translated by English lack with the dative object as the subject)
- Der Suppe fehlt es an Geschmack.
- The soup lacks flavor.
- to be absent, to be missing [with dative ‘to someone’] (idiomatically translated by English not have with the German subject as the direct object and the dative object as the subject)
- Ich würde es kaufen, aber mir fehlt das Geld.
- I would buy it but I don't have the money.
- to be missed [with dative ‘by someone’] (idiomatically translated by English miss with the German subject as the direct object and the dative object as the subject)
- Seit meinem Umzug fehlen mir meine Freunde.
- I've been missing my friends since I moved.
- (regional) to be felt [with dative ‘by someone’, along with etwas ‘unwell’ or nichts ‘fine’]
- Fehlt dir etwas? - Nein, mir fehlt nichts, danke! ― Do you feel unwell? - No, I'm fine, thanks!
- Was fehlt ihr denn? ― What's wrong with her?
- (intransitive) to be absent, to be missing
- Das Gemälde fehlt an der Wand.
- The painting is missing from the wall.
- (dated) to fail
- (literary) to sin, to err
- 1787, Friedrich Schiller, Don Karlos, Infant von Spanien, 3. Akt, 3. Auftritt:
- Sie hat / Aus falscher Großmuth sehr gefehlt. Ich werde / Sie zu bestrafen wissen.
- —from a false / Mistaken honor she has deeply erred / And I shall punish her.
Usage notes
- Note that the roles of subject and object are "reversed" from the English verbs that would be used to translate fehlen. For example:
- Du fehlst mir. ― I miss you.
- Ich fehle dir. ― You miss me.
- When a location is given, the preposition used gives the location where what is missing is supposed to be. For example
- Das Kissen ist auf dem Bett. ― The pillow is on the bed.
- Das Kissen fehlt auf dem Bett. ― The pillow is missing from the bed.
- The preposition auf is used rather than aus or von.
Conjugation
infinitive | fehlen | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
present participle | fehlend | ||||
past participle | gefehlt | ||||
auxiliary | haben | ||||
indicative | subjunctive | ||||
singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
present | ich fehle | wir fehlen | i | ich fehle | wir fehlen |
du fehlst | ihr fehlt | du fehlest | ihr fehlet | ||
er fehlt | sie fehlen | er fehle | sie fehlen | ||
preterite | ich fehlte | wir fehlten | ii | ich fehlte1 | wir fehlten1 |
du fehltest | ihr fehltet | du fehltest1 | ihr fehltet1 | ||
er fehlte | sie fehlten | er fehlte1 | sie fehlten1 | ||
imperative | fehl (du) fehle (du) |
fehlt (ihr) |
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
- → Kashubian: felowac
Further reading
- “fehlen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “fehlen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “fehlen” in Duden online
- “fehlen” in OpenThesaurus.de
Anagrams
Categories:
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- German terms derived from Old French
- German terms derived from Latin
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