verderben
German
Etymology
From a merger of Middle High German verderben (“to perish, die”) (strong verb) and verderben (“bring ruin to, kill, damage”) (weak verb). The former is from Old High German *farderban, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *fraderban, which is in turn from Proto-Germanic *derbaną (“to perish”).
Pronunciation
Verb
verderben (class 3 strong, third-person singular present verdirbt, past tense verdarb, past participle verdorben, past subjunctive verdürbe, auxiliary haben or sein)
- (transitive) to deprive (someone) of (something); to rob (someone) of (some feeling) [auxiliary haben]
- (transitive) to ruin; to render (something) useless; to corrupt; to spoil [auxiliary haben]
- (intransitive, usually of food) to spoil; to rot; to perish [auxiliary sein]
- (intransitive) to be offensive; to live sinfully [auxiliary sein]
Usage notes
In most contexts, the verb has strong conjugation. However, it has weak conjugation when referring to a written document: Der Text ist verderbt – The text is corrupted. (Chiefly, only the past participle is used in this sense.) Also, in archaic German, verderbt could be used in other senses as well.
Conjugation
infinitive | verderben | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
present participle | verderbend | ||||
past participle | verdorben | ||||
auxiliary | haben or sein | ||||
indicative | subjunctive | ||||
singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
present | ich verderbe | wir verderben | i | ich verderbe | wir verderben |
du verdirbst | ihr verderbt | du verderbest | ihr verderbet | ||
er verdirbt | sie verderben | er verderbe | sie verderben | ||
preterite | ich verdarb | wir verdarben | ii | ich verdürbe1 | wir verdürben1 |
du verdarbst | ihr verdarbt | du verdürbest1 du verdürbst1 |
ihr verdürbet1 ihr verdürbt1 | ||
er verdarb | sie verdarben | er verdürbe1 | sie verdürben1 | ||
imperative | verdirb (du) | verderbt (ihr) |
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
Derived terms
- Verderben, Verderber, Verderbung
- verderbend, verdorben
- verderblich, Verderbnis
- viele Köche verderben den Brei
- sich den Magen verderben
Further reading
- 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 inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- German terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- German terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- German 3-syllable words
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with homophones
- German terms with audio pronunciation
- German lemmas
- German verbs
- German strong verbs
- German class 3 strong verbs
- German verbs using haben as auxiliary
- German verbs using sein as auxiliary
- German verbs using haben and sein as auxiliary
- German transitive verbs
- German intransitive verbs