Polyglot Dictionary

geschehen

/ɡəˈʃeːən/

verb B1

der (masc.) die (fem.) das (neut.)

Underline = a spelling pattern that usually signals that gender.

V Register Neutral Era Current Frequency Common Domain General Tone Neutral

Forms

er/sie/es
geschieht
past
geschah
perfect
ist geschehen

Meaning

  1. to happen

    Only used impersonally, with es — "Was ist geschehen?" (What happened?) — more formal/literary than passieren.

    • Das ist vor langer Zeit geschehen.

      That happened a long time ago.

    • Was ist denn hier geschehen? Es sieht aus wie nach einem Sturm.

      What has happened here? It looks like after a storm.

V Category Occurrence Concreteness Concrete Agency Involuntary Duration Durative Transitivity Intransitive

Similar words

passieren

geschehen is more formal or literary; passieren is more everyday — both mean "to happen."

Similar in other languages

Spanish

suceder

suceder is the Spanish word for the same thing — both mean "to happen."

Portuguese

acontecer

acontecer is the Portuguese word for the same thing — both mean "to happen."

Practice

1 What does geschehen mean?

2 Fill the gap: Das ist vor langer Zeit ___.

3 Which fingerprint chart matches geschehen?

See also

verbirregular

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