kriegen

From Middle High German kriegen (“to war, to conquer property or land”). Verbalisation of Krieg (“war”). Cognate to Bavarian kriagn, Dutch krijgen, Hunsrik krien.

• (Standard, Germany) IPA^(key): /ˈkriːɡən/, ,
• (Southern Germany) IPA^(key): /ˈkriəɡən/, ,
• Rhymes: -iːɡən
• Hyphenation: krie‧gen

• Audio:

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kriegen (weak, third-person singular present kriegt, past tense kriegte, past participle gekriegt, auxiliary haben)

1. (colloquial) to get

   Synonyms: bekommen, erhalten

2. (colloquial) to catch, to come down with
3. (colloquial) to get (something to a desired state)

   Wirst du es heute fertig kriegen?

   Will you get it ready today?

4. (auxiliary, colloquial) to get (with the past participle form of a verb)

   Synonym: bekommen

   Hab ich geschenkt gekriegt. ― I got it as a present.

   Ich krieg's geschenkt. ― I get it for free.

5. (dated, rare) to war

   Synonym: bekriegen

• Kriegen is relatively infrequent in the formal standard language, which prefers bekommen or erhalten instead. However, kriegen is very frequent in colloquial German, where the verb often retains the vowel shortening that is occurring in local dialects in the second and third person singular of verbs. Thus, (du) kriegst is often pronounced /krɪ(ç)s(t)/, (er) kriegt may be /krɪkt/, /krɪç(t)/. These pronunciations are not used for the rare sense “to war”.

• “kriegen” in Duden online
• “kriegen” in Duden online
• “kriegen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “kriegen” in Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 16 vols., Leipzig 1854–1961.

• krygen (New Saxon Spelling)

From Middle Low German krîgen. Verbalisation of krich (“war”). Compare German kriegen, Dutch krijgen.

kriegen (past singular kreeg, past participle kregen, auxiliary verb hebben)

1. to get
2. to catch
3. to come down with