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lehren. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
lehren, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
lehren in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
lehren you have here. The definition of the word
lehren will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
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German
Etymology
From Middle High German lēren, from Old High German lēren, from Proto-West Germanic *laiʀijan, from Proto-Germanic *laizijaną, from *laizō (“lore”). Cognate with Low German lehren, Dutch leren, Afrikaans leer, Danish lære, Norwegian lære, Swedish lära. Related to lernen.
Pronunciation
Verb
lehren (weak, third-person singular present lehrt, past tense lehrte, past participle gelehrt, auxiliary haben)
- (transitive or intransitive) to teach a class, a subject; to be a teacher
- Ich lehre Geschichte. ― I teach history.
- Sie lehrt an der Uni. ― She's a teacher at the university.
- (formal, ditransitive) to teach somebody something
Meine Großmutter lehrte mich das Stricken.- My grandmother taught me knitting.
Usage notes
- A more common word for sense 2, particularly in spoken German, is beibringen.
- Traditional grammar requires lehren (unlike beibringen) to be used only with accusative objects, i.e. with a double accusative as in the example above. However, a dative construction is also heard now and then. Thus: Meine Großmutter lehrte mir das Stricken.
Conjugation
Conjugation of
lehren (
weak, auxiliary
haben)
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
Composed forms of
lehren (
weak, auxiliary
haben)
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “lehren” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “lehren” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “lehren” in Duden online
- “lehren” in OpenThesaurus.de