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German Low German
Etymology
From Middle Low German gân, from Old Saxon gān.
Pronunciation
Verb
gahn (past singular güng, past participle gahn or gangen, auxiliary verb wesen)
- (intransitive) to go
- (intransitive) to walk
- (transitive) to walk (some distance); to go (usually) by foot
- (intransitive) to leave
- Ik gah nu. ― I'm leaving now.
- (intransitive) To lead (in a direction).
- Dehierste Weg geiht richt na Bassum. ― This road goes all the way to Bassum.
- (intransitive) To proceed (well or poorly).
- Dat is goot gahn. ― That went well.
- (impersonal, intransitive) to be going; to be alright; indicates how the oblique object fares
- Woans geiht dat di? ― How are you doing?
- Mi geiht dat goot. ― I’m doing well. (Literally, “It goes well for me.”)
- Dat geiht. ― It’s alright.
- (auxiliary) Used to form the future tense of a verb, together with an infinitive.
- Dat geiht doch nich warken. ― It will not work anyway.
- Note: schölen and wüllen are used more often for the future tense, instead of gahn.
- (auxiliary) To start to, begin to, to be going to
- De Sünn geiht wedder schienen. ― The sun is starting to shine again.
- Ik gah slapen. ― I'm going to sleep.
- Dat geiht so regen. ― It's going to start raining soon.
- (colloquial, intransitive) to be possible
- Dat mag villicht gahn. ― That might be possible.
- (colloquial, intransitive) to work, to function (the verb warken is also used in that context)
- De Koffeeautomaat geiht nich. ― The coffee dispenser doesn't work.
- (colloquial, intransitive) to be in progress; to last
- De Sitten geiht bet Klock een. ― The session is scheduled until one o'clock.
- (impersonal, intransitive, with “op” followed by a time) to approach; to be going (on some one)
- Dat geiht op Klock 8. ― It’s going on 8 o’clock.
Usage notes
Unlike English to go, Low German gahn does not mean "to travel somewhere" in general. A distinction must be made between gahn (walk), fohren (go by bike, car, train, or ship), and flegen (go by plane, i.e fly). If used with a place one cannot or would not commonly walk to, gahn often imples that one intends to stay there for a long time, e.g.: Ik gah na New York. – I'm going to New York to live.
Conjugation
Conjugation of gahn (irregular verb)