anhaben

From Middle High German anehaben, anhaben, from Old High German anahabēn, from Proto-West Germanic *anahabbjan, from Proto-Germanic *anahabjaną. Equivalent to an- +‎ haben. Compare Dutch aanhebben, English have on, Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌽 (anahaban).

• IPA^(key): /ˈanˌhaːbən/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: an‧ha‧ben

anhaben (irregular, third-person singular present hat an, past tense hatte an, past participle angehabt, past subjunctive hätte an, auxiliary haben)

1. (transitive) to wear; to have on (a piece of clothing) see usage notes

   Er hat keine Sandalen an.

   He doesn’t have sandals on.

   Er hat fast nie Sandalen an.

   He almost never wears sandals.

2. (transitive, slightly informal) to have turned on; to have on (an electronic device)

   Ich hatte das Radio an.

   I had the radio on.

3. (ditransitive, infinitive only, construed with indefinite pronoun) to harm, to hurt

   Der Hund kann dir nichts anhaben.

   The dog can’t harm you.

   Meinst du, er will mir was anhaben?

   Do you think he wants to harm me?

• As with English “have on”, German anhaben is understood as progressive (“to be wearing”), unless some adverb suggests otherwise. This is distinct from tragen. Hence, Er trägt keine Sandalen could also be a general statement (“He doesn’t wear sandals.”).
• With headgear, aufhaben is preferred instead (though anhaben is not impossible either).

• Anhaben
• die Hosen anhaben

• “anhaben” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “anhaben” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “anhaben” in Duden online
• “anhaben” in OpenThesaurus.de