wünschen

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See also: Wünschen

German

Etymology

From Middle High German wünschen, wunschen, from Old High German wunsken (to choose, wish, desire), from Proto-West Germanic *wunskijan (to wish), from Proto-Germanic *wunskijaną (to wish), derived from *wunskaz, *wunskō (wish, desire), from Proto-Indo-European *wun-, *wenh₁- (to wish, love). Cognate with Dutch wensen (to wish), English wish, Danish ønske (to wish), and further Sanskrit वांछ् (vāṃch, to want). Related to German Wonne (lust, desire). See also winsome, wone.

Pronunciation

  • Audio (Austria):(file)
  • IPA(key): /ˈvʏnʃən/,
  • Audio:(file)

Verb

wünschen (weak, third-person singular present wünscht, past tense wünschte, past participle gewünscht, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive, dative reflexive) to wish for; to make a wish for; to want; to desire
    Ich wünsche mir ein Meerschweinchen.
    I want a guinea pig.
  2. (transitive) to wish
    Ich wünsche dir alles Gute.
    I wish you all the best.
  3. (transitive, formal) to demand, to order
    Ich wünsche eine Erklärung!
    I demand an explanation!
  4. (transitive, formal, chiefly in the negative) to tolerate, to brook
    Ich wünsche ein solches Verhalten nicht.
    I will not brook such behaviour.

Usage notes

  • If what is being wished for is not a thing, but for a statement to be true, the Subjunctive II form is used for both wünschen and the verb in the statement. For example:
    Ich wünschte, ich wäre eine Prinzessin.
    I wish I were a princess.
    Ich wünschte, ich hätte einen Drachen.
    I wish I had a dragon.
    Ich wünschte, es gäbe echte Drachen.
    I wish there were real dragons.

Conjugation

Derived terms

References

  • Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache, Friedrich Kluge

Further reading