treten

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German

Etymology

From Middle High German treten, from Old High German tretan, from Proto-West Germanic *tredan, from Proto-Germanic *trudaną. Cognate with English tread.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): , ,
  • (file)
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: tre‧ten

Verb

treten (class 5 strong, third-person singular present tritt, past tense trat, past participle getreten, past subjunctive träte, auxiliary haben or sein)

  1. (intransitive, auxiliary sein) to step, to walk (a short distance)
    Bitte treten Sie hierher.
    Please step over here.
  2. (intransitive, auxiliary sein, figuratively) to appear
    Als sie die Tragödie sah, traten ihr Tränen in die Augen.
    As she saw the tragedy, tears appeared in her eyes.
    • 1919, Walther Kabel, Irrende Seelen, Werner Dietsch Verlag, page 107:
      Wieder begann mein Herz jetzt in rasenden Schlägen zu klopfen, wieder fühlte ich kalten Schweiß auf meine Stirn treten.
      Again my heart started now beating with racing beats, again I felt cold sweat appear on my brow.
  3. (intransitive, with certain phrases) to come into a state implied by a phrase.
    in Kraft tretento come into effect
    an die Stelle tretento take the place
    in Erscheinung tretento appear (come into appearance)
    in den Hintergrund tretento become less important (step into the background)
    in den Ruhestand tretento retire (come into retirement)
    in Kontakt tretento get in touch (come into contact)
    auf den Plan tretento appear (literally, to come onto the map)
    an die Öffentlichkeit tretento go public (to come into the public)
    in Aktion tretento become active, to take action
    zutage (zu Tage) tretento come to light (literally, day)
  4. (transitive, auxiliary haben) to step; to tread; to trample
    Wasser tretento tread water
  5. (transitive, auxiliary haben) to kick
    Der Räuber schlug und trat sein Opfer.
    The robber beat and kicked his victim.
  6. (intransitive, auxiliary sein) to step; to tread
  7. (intransitive, auxiliary sein, with auf) to step (on)
  8. (intransitive, auxiliary sein) to pedal

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

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