gehen

• geh'n
• gehn (dated in formal prose, but still common informally and poetically)

From Middle High German gān, gēn, from Old High German gān, gēn, from Proto-West Germanic *gān, from Proto-Germanic *gāną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- (“to leave”).

Cognate with Dutch gaan, Low German gan, gahn, English go, Swedish and Danish gå.

The form gēn instead of gān is of Bavarian origin, but many dialects of Central and Low German have -e- (from earlier -ei-) or ei in the 2nd and 3rd person singular present, in keeping with the Proto-Germanic irregular conjugation. The -h- was introduced into the spelling by analogy with sehen, in which it had become mute but was retained in spelling.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡeːən/, [ˈɡeː.ən] (official standard, but less common)
• IPA^(key): /ɡeːn/, [ɡeːn] (predominant)
• Rhymes: -eːən, -eːn
• Hyphenation: ge‧hen

• Audio:

  (file)

gehen (class 7 strong, third-person singular present geht, past tense ging, past participle gegangen, auxiliary sein)

1. (intransitive) to go, to walk

   Lass uns beide mit dem Hund gehen. ― Let's walk the dog together.

   Ich sah die Kinder über die Straße gehen. ― I saw the children walk/go across the street.

   Mein Baby beginnt schon zu gehen. ― My baby is already starting to walk.

2. (intransitive) to leave

   Ich gehe jetzt. ― I’m leaving now.

3. (intransitive, colloquial) to leave, to take off (aeroplane, train)

   Synonyms: fahren, abfahren

   Wann geht dein Zug? ― When is your train leaving?

5. (impersonal, intransitive) to be going; to be all right [with dative ‘for someone’ and predicate adjective ‘in a particular way’] (idiomatically translated by English be doing or similar, with the dative object as the subject)

   Wie geht es dir? ― How are you doing?

   Es geht mir gut. ― I’m doing well. (literally, “It goes well for me.”)

   Es geht. ― It’s all right.

6. (slightly informal, intransitive, often impersonal) to be possible

   Das würde vielleicht gehen. ― That might be possible.

   Ich zeige dir, wie es geht. ― I'll show you how it's possible.

7. (colloquial, intransitive) to work, to function (of a machine, method or the like)

   Synonym: funktionieren

   Der Kaffeeautomat geht nicht. ― The coffee dispenser doesn't work.

   • 2014, Der Spiegel, number 21, page 62:

     Aber erst in Beirut lernte sie, wie professionelles Kochen geht, die Logistik, das Timing, die Organisation, um mehrere Hundert Mahlzeiten zuzubereiten.

     But only in Beirut did she learn how professional cooking works, the logistics, the timing, the organization for preparing several hundred meals.

8. (colloquial, intransitive) to last, to go for, to go on, to be in progress

   Das ging für eine halbe Stunde oder so. ― This went on for half an hour or so.

   Die Sitzung geht bis ein Uhr. ― The session is scheduled until one o’clock.

9. (intransitive) to sit, to rise, to expand (of dough etc.)

   Synonym: aufgehen

   Teig drei Stunden gehen lassen. ― Let dough sit for three hours.

10. (colloquial, intransitive) to be (on); to be paid for (by) [with auf (+ accusative) ‘the payer’]

    Die Getränke gehen auf mich. ― Drinks are on me.

11. (regional or dated, impersonal, intransitive) to be approaching [with auf (+ accusative) ‘a specific time’]

    Es geht auf 8 Uhr. ― It’s going on 8 o’clock.

12. to go one's way, to make one's way (of a path, destination), to go separate ways [with genitive and Weg]
    • 2019 [1979], Michael Ende, Die unendliche Geschichte, Stuttgart, Germany: Thienemann-Esslinger Verlag GmbH, →ISBN:

      Wenn es euch beiden nicht passt, was ich tue und wie ich bin, dann geht doch euer Wege! Ich halte euch nicht! Geht, wohin ihr wollt!

      If you both don't agree with what I do and who I am, then just go your own way! I'm not stopping you! Go wherever you want!

    • 2022, Gunnar Herbst, “„Ich vermisse die Bühne nicht“ – Wie Manuel Andrack vom Harald-Schmidt-Sidekick zum Genusswanderer wurde”, in stern‎^[1]:

      Wir gehen unserer Wege, hinab ins Schaufelstal. Manchmal halten wir inne, schauen uns um, schweigen. Und dann reden wir.

      We make our way down into the Schaufelstal [Shovel Valley]. Sometimes we pause, looking around silently. And then we talk.

    • 2018, Florian Dexheimer, transl., Vier Jahre in der Stonewall Brigade: Ein Soldat der 33rd Virginia Infantry erinnert sich an den Amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg, Germany: Kirchheimbolanden: Florian Dexheimer, translation of Four Years in the Stonewall Brigade by John Overton Casler, →ISBN:

      Wir verabschiedeten uns voneinander und gingen unserer Wege.

      We said goodbye to each other and went our separate ways.

Unlike English to go, German gehen does not mean "to travel somewhere" in general. A distinction must be made between gehen (walk), fahren (go by bike, car, train, or ship), and fliegen (go by plane). If used with a place one cannot or would not commonly walk to, gehen often implies that one intends to stay there permanently, e.g.: Ich gehe nach New York. – I'm going to live in New York.

Note: The 2nd person plural imperative can also be gehet, now in archaic or poetic style.

• kommen
• rennen

• gehts

• fahren

• “gehen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “gehen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “gehen” in Duden online
• “gehen” in OpenThesaurus.de
• “gehen” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.

• hegen