Polyglot Dictionary

passieren

/paˈsiːʁən/

verb A2

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

Underline = a spelling pattern that usually signals that gender.

V Register Neutral Era Current Frequency Core Domain General Tone Neutral

Forms

present (3rd sg.)
passiert
past
passierte
perfect
ist passiert

Meaning

  1. to happen

    The everyday word for "to happen" — geschehen covers the same ground but sounds more formal or literary.

V Category Occurrence Concreteness Concrete Agency Involuntary Duration Durative Transitivity Intransitive

Similar words

geschehen

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

Similar in other languages

Spanish

acontecer

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

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 passieren mean?

2 Fill the gap: Was ist ___?

3 Which fingerprint chart matches passieren?

See also

verbcore-vocabulary

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