werden

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋɛrdə(n)/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛrdən

Verb

werden

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

Anagrams

• werend

Etymology

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, whereas 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 was increasingly replaced with the infinitive, probably by analogy with the older future auxiliaries wollen (“will”) and sollen (“shall”). These latter were displaced by werden in Modern German, but survive dialectally.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈveːʁdən/, [ˈveːɐ̯.dn̩], [ˈvɛɐ̯-], [ʋ-], [-dən]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

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 [with bare infinitive ‘do something’]

   Ich werde nach Hause gehen.

   I will go home.

2. (auxiliary, subjunctive) would; forms the subjunctive tense of most verbs [with bare infinitive ‘do something’]
3. (auxiliary, past participle worden) to be done; forms the passive voice [with past participle]

   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 [with dative ‘for someone’ and predicate adjective ‘a certain state’]

   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

Further reading

• “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

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwerdən/

Verb

werden

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

Further reading

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

Etymology

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”).

Pronunciation

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

Verb

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

1. to become

References

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

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• 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.

Verb

wêrden or werden

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