werden

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋɛrdə(n)/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛrdən

werden

1. inflection of worden:
   1. plural past indicative
   2. (dated or formal) plural past subjunctive

• werend

From Middle High German wërden, from Old High German werdan, from Proto-West Germanic *werþan, from Proto-Germanic *werþaną. Cognate with Dutch worden, obsolete English worth, Swedish varda, Norwegian Nynorsk verta, and also with Latin vertō (“to turn”).

The use as a passive auxiliary is old and found throughout West Germanic, but the use as a future auxiliary is a Middle High German innovation. It originated in inchoative constructions with the present participle: er wirt lachende (“he starts laughing, is about to laugh, will laugh”). Since the 14th century, the participle began to be replaced with the infinitive, probably by analogy with the older future auxiliaries wollen (“will”) and sollen (“shall”). The last two have been displaced by werden in Modern German but survive dialectally.

• IPA^(key): /ˈveːʁdən/, , , ,

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

werden (irregular, third-person singular present wird, past tense wurde or (archaic) ward, past participle geworden or (as an auxiliary) worden, past subjunctive würde, auxiliary sein)

1. (auxiliary, past participle geworden) will, to be going to, forms the future tense

   Ich werde nach Hause gehen.

   I will go home.

2. (auxiliary, subjunctive) would; forms the subjunctive tense of most verbs
3. (auxiliary, past participle worden) to be done; forms the passive voice

   Das Buch wird gerade gelesen. (present tense)

   The book is being read.

   Ich wurde in Europa geboren. (preterite tense)

   I was born in Europe.

   Er war geschlagen worden. (past perfect tense)

   He had been beaten.

4. (copulative, past participle geworden) to become; to get; to grow; to turn

   Es wird heißer.

   It's getting hotter.

5. for one to begin or come to feel or experience

   Usage: In this sense werden is always conjugated in the third person singular and takes a dative noun. The impersonal subject es may be present, but is often taken as implied. (See the usage note for a similar meaning of sein.)

   Wird dir kalt? ― Are you getting cold?

   Den Kindern wird langweilig. ― The children are getting bored.

   Von Mayonnaise wird mir schlecht.

   Mayonnaise makes me sick.

   (literally, “From mayonnaise I become sick.”)

6. (copulative, colloquial) to be; to happen; to occur (in the future)

   Wir werden zusammen glücklich.

   We will be happy together.

   Was wird aus mir?

   What will become of me?

7. (colloquial) to be acceptable; to function correctly; to have the desired result or effect

   Das wird so nichts.

   It will not work like that.

   Synonyms: klappen, funktionieren

• Werden

• “werden” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “werden” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “werden” in OpenThesaurus.de
• “werden (with past participle ''worden'')” in Duden online
• “werden (with past participle ''geworden'')” in Duden online

From Old Dutch werthan, from Proto-West Germanic *werþan, from Proto-Germanic *werþaną.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwerdən/

werden

1. to become
2. to happen, to occur
3. to arise, to form

• worden (late)

• verwerden

• Dutch: worden
  • Afrikaans: word
  • Negerhollands: word
  • Petjo: worden
• Limburgish: waere

• “werden (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “werden (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page II

Inherited from Old High German werdan, from Proto-West Germanic *werþan, from Proto-Germanic *werþaną. Cognate with Dutch worden and obsolete English worth (“to become”).

• IPA^(key): (before 13^th CE) /ˈwɛrdən/

wërden (class 3 strong, third-person singular present wirdet, past tense wart, past participle worden, past subjunctive würde, auxiliary sīn)

1. to become

• Alemannic German: wërde

  Swabian: werra

• Central Franconian: wääde, wääre (Moselle Franconian, but in limited use)
• German: werden
• Luxembourgish: wäerten
• Pennsylvania German: waerre
• Yiddish: ווערן (vern)

• Benecke, Georg Friedrich, Müller, Wilhelm, Zarncke, Friedrich (1863) “werden”, in Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch: mit Benutzung des Nachlasses von Benecke, Stuttgart: S. Hirzel

From Old Saxon wērthan (“to become”), from Proto-West Germanic *werþan, from Proto-Germanic *werþaną.

• Stem vowel: ê²
  • (originally) IPA^(key): /wɛːrdən/ or IPA^(key): /wærdən/
  • While the combination /rd/ originally lengthened the vowel in Old Saxon, in several Middle Low German dialects it was treated like a geminate, or had actually become /r/, and in turn shortened long vowels occurring before it. Further, the vowel was shortened before /rt/ from final obstruent devoicing. Dialects then often begun to apply the more common vowel length across all forms.

wêrden or werden

1. to become
2. auxiliary verb used to form the passive