leben
German
Etymology
From Middle High German lëben and Old High German lebēn, from Proto-West Germanic *libbjan, from Proto-Germanic *libjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“leave, cling, linger”).
Cognate with Old Saxon libbian (Middle Low German leven, German Low German lęven, lewen (“to live”)), Dutch leven, English live, West Frisian libje, Old Norse lifa (Swedish leva), Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (liban).
Pronunciation
Verb
leben (weak, third-person singular present lebt, past tense lebte, past participle gelebt, auxiliary haben)
- (intransitive) to live, to be alive
- Lebt dein Uropa noch? ― Is your great-grandpa still alive?
- (intransitive) to dwell, to reside
- Ich lebe in der Schillerstraße in der Nähe des Stadtzentrums. ― I live in the Schiller-street near the city's center.
- 2010, Der Spiegel[1], number 35/2010, page 102:
- Es leben etwa 300 000 Bürger des ehemaligen Jugoslawien in der Schweiz, kaum ein Staat hat damals im Verhältnis zu seiner Einwohnerzahl so viele Flüchtlinge aufgenommen.
- There are (reside) about 300,000 citizens of the former Yugoslavia living in Switzerland, hardly any state took in so many refugees in relation to its population at that time.
- (intransitive) to live, to exist, to occupy a place
- Die Dinosaurier lebten für Jahrmillionen auf der Erde bevor der Mensch erschien. ― The dinosaurs existed on Earth for millions of years prior to the rise of man.
- (intransitive, hyperbolic) to cope with, to live with, to deal with
- Du wirst wohl damit leben müssen! ― You'll have to cope with it!
- Jeder muss mit seinen eigenen Problemen leben! ― Everybody has to deal with his own issues.
Conjugation
infinitive | leben | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
present participle | lebend | ||||
past participle | gelebt | ||||
auxiliary | haben | ||||
indicative | subjunctive | ||||
singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
present | ich lebe | wir leben | i | ich lebe | wir leben |
du lebst | ihr lebt | du lebest | ihr lebet | ||
er lebt | sie leben | er lebe | sie leben | ||
preterite | ich lebte | wir lebten | ii | ich lebte1 | wir lebten1 |
du lebtest | ihr lebtet | du lebtest1 | ihr lebtet1 | ||
er lebte | sie lebten | er lebte1 | sie lebten1 | ||
imperative | leb (du) lebe (du) |
lebt (ihr) |
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “leben” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “leben” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “leben” in Duden online
- “leben” in OpenThesaurus.de
- leben on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia de
Middle High German
Etymology
Inherited from Old High German lebēn.
Pronunciation
Verb
lëben (class 2 weak, third-person singular present lëbet, past tense lëbete, past participle gelëbet, auxiliary hān)
- to live
Conjugation
infinitive | lëben | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
genitive gerund | lëbennes lëbenes | ||||
dative gerund | lëbenne lëbene | ||||
present participle | lëbende | ||||
past participle | gelëbet | ||||
auxiliary | hān | ||||
indicative | subjunctive | ||||
singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
present | ich lëbe | wir lëben | i | ich lëbe | wir lëben |
du lëbest | ir lëbet | du lëbest | ir lëbet | ||
ër lëbet | sie lëbent | ër lëbe | sie lëben | ||
preterite | ich lëbete | wir lëbeten | ii | ich lëbete | wir lëbeten |
du lëbetest | ir lëbetet | du lëbetest | ir lëbetet | ||
ër lëbete | sie lëbeten | ër lëbete | sie lëbeten | ||
imperative | lëbe (du) | lëbet (ir) |
Descendants
- Alemannic German: lëëbe
- Bavarian:
- German: leben
- Luxembourgish: liewen
- Vilamovian: łaowa
- Yiddish: לעבן (lebn)
References
- Benecke, Georg Friedrich, Müller, Wilhelm, Zarncke, Friedrich (1863) “lëben”, in Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch: mit Benutzung des Nachlasses von Benecke, Stuttgart: S. Hirzel
Nubi
Etymology
Noun
lében
Old High German
Etymology 1
From Proto-West Germanic *libbjan, from Proto-Germanic *libjaną, related to Old English libban, Old Norse lifa. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“leave, cling, linger”).
Verb
lebēn
- to live
Conjugation
infinitive | lebēn | |
---|---|---|
indicative | present | past |
1st person singular | lebēm, lebēn | lebēta |
2nd person singular | lebēs, lebēst | lebētōs, lebētōst |
3rd person singular | lebēt | lebēta |
1st person plural | lebēm, lebēmēs | lebētum, lebētumēs |
2nd person plural | lebēt | lebētut |
3rd person plural | lebēnt | lebētun |
subjunctive | present | past |
1st person singular | lebe | lebēti |
2nd person singular | lebēs, lebēst | lebētīs, lebētīst |
3rd person singular | lebe | lebēti |
1st person plural | lebēm, lebēmēs | lebētīm, lebētīmēs |
2nd person plural | lebēt | lebētīt |
3rd person plural | lebēn | lebētīn |
imperative | present | |
singular | lebe | |
plural | lebēt | |
participle | present | past |
lebēnti | gilebēt |
Descendants
- Middle High German: lëben
Etymology 2
Derived from the verb lebēn.
Noun
lebēn n
Descendants
- 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 inherited from Proto-Germanic
- German terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- German terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- German 2-syllable words
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with audio pronunciation
- German lemmas
- German verbs
- German weak verbs
- German verbs using haben as auxiliary
- German intransitive verbs
- German terms with usage examples
- German terms with quotations
- German hyperboles
- Middle High German terms inherited from Old High German
- Middle High German terms derived from Old High German
- Middle High German terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle High German lemmas
- Middle High German verbs
- Middle High German weak verbs
- Middle High German class 2 weak verbs
- Middle High German verbs using hān as auxiliary
- Nubi terms derived from Arabic
- Nubi lemmas
- Nubi nouns
- kcn:Beverages
- Old High German terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Old High German terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Old High German terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Old High German terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Old High German terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Old High German lemmas
- Old High German verbs
- Old High German class 3 weak verbs
- Old High German nouns
- Old High German neuter nouns