An old variant of schnauben (“to snort, to pant”), documented in Middle High German snūfen.
The fricative -f- (or -v-) instead of -b- is expected for Low German (compare Middle Low German snûven) as well as West Central German (compare Luxembourgish schnauwen). However, such forms are also old in Upper German dialects, it not being sure whether the latter have borrowed them from the North, or have derived them natively. In modern standard German, schnaufen is an alternative form of schnauben, but is now the more normal of the two (schnauben tends to be used referring to either snorting out of anger or that of an animal).
schnaufen (weak, third-person singular present schnauft, past tense schnaufte, past participle geschnauft, auxiliary haben)
| infinitive | schnaufen | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present participle | schnaufend | ||||
| past participle | geschnauft | ||||
| auxiliary | haben | ||||
| indicative | subjunctive | ||||
| singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
| present | ich schnaufe | wir schnaufen | i | ich schnaufe | wir schnaufen |
| du schnaufst | ihr schnauft | du schnaufest | ihr schnaufet | ||
| er schnauft | sie schnaufen | er schnaufe | sie schnaufen | ||
| preterite | ich schnaufte | wir schnauften | ii | ich schnaufte1 | wir schnauften1 |
| du schnauftest | ihr schnauftet | du schnauftest1 | ihr schnauftet1 | ||
| er schnaufte | sie schnauften | er schnaufte1 | sie schnauften1 | ||
| imperative | schnauf (du) schnaufe (du) |
schnauft (ihr) | |||
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.