vorkommen

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See also: Vorkommen

German

Etymology

From Middle High German vorekomen, forekomen, vurekomen, vürekomen, from Old High German furaqueman, furakweman, furiqueman, furikweman, from Proto-West Germanic *forakweman, from Proto-Germanic *furaikwemaną, equivalent to vor- +‎ kommen. Cognate with English forecome.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key):
  • Audio:(file)
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: vor‧kom‧men

Verb

vorkommen (class 4 strong, third-person singular present kommt vor, past tense kam vor, past participle vorgekommen, past subjunctive käme vor, auxiliary sein)

  1. to occur, happen
    • 2010, Der Spiegel, number 22/2010, page 126:
      Pasta, Kuchen, Müsli, Brot – wer an Zöliakie leidet, muss viele gängige Lebensmittel meiden: Das Eiweiß Gluten, das bei den Betroffenen zu chronischer Darmentzündung führt, kommt in den meisten Getreidearten vor.
      Pasta, cakes, muesli, bread – someone who suffers from celiac disease has to avoid many common foods: the protein gluten, which leads to chronic intestinal inflammation for the sufferers, occurs in most types of grain.
  2. to seem, appear
    • 1931, Arthur Schnitzler, Flucht in die Finsternis, S. Fischer Verlag, page 38:
      Er ging rasch und sicher, trällerte vor sich hin, endlich begann er sogar zu singen mit einer schönen dunklen Stimme, die ihm selber fremd vorkam.
      He walked fast and firmly, trilled to himself, finally he even started to sing in a beautiful dark voice, which seemed unfamiliar to himself.
  3. (intransitive) to appear, to occur (in a given location or situation)
    Irene Adler ist eine der bemerkenswertesten Figuren in der Sherlock-Holmes-Serie, obwohl sie nur in einer einzigen Geschichte vorkommt.
    Irene Adler is one of the most notable characters in the Sherlock Holmes series, despite appearing in only one story.
  4. (reflexive) to feel (smart, stupid, clever, dumb, etc.)
    Ich komme mir klug vor.
    I feel clever.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Further reading

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