Dictionary
Here, you have a quick overview over the relevant entries. For more details (family, example, articles), just click on the word itself.- 1. slime, gliding (Notable family members in English are slick, slime, lime (stone), slip, slight and delete.)
- 1. weak, without inner tension (This root is based on German etymological findings. The English sources do not trace that back to Indo-European and instead say that the origin of words like "schlafen" or "labor" is unknown.)
- 1. "firm, hard, strong" (This root grew into an impressive tree and is the origin of English words like trust, true, tree, duration, trough, tar and druid. )
- 1. grabbing (This is also the root of the Latin branch of "capere", which is where words like capture, perception, cop and many others are from)
- 1. to lean, to be inclined (Notable English members of the family besides "to lean" are words like client, climate, climax, clinic, decline and a bunch of similar words. )
- 1. "to bend, to turn" (There are several Indo-European roots that revolve around the idea of bending. This one is the origin of English words like "link" and "flank" but it has more relatives in German. )
- 1. being able, having power or potential (The most famous members of the family are "may", "might" and their German counterparts "mögen" and "Macht". But this root is also the origin of words like "magic", "machine" and "mechanic" - the common theme is quite obvious once you think about it :))
- 1. following, pursuing (The original sense of this root was about following, tracing but from there it shifted toward following with the eyes and eventually it evolved into "to see". The original sense is still visible in "sequel" or "sequence".)
- 1. "be slack, without tension, lax" (Notable English members or that family besides "slack" are "release", "relax" and "sleep".)
- 1. seeing (This root is the origin of words like vision or the video, but in German, it also evolved into the verb "wissen" which is about "knowing".)
- 1. "like X" (Common part of adjectives that express an idea of "like that thing". It's NOT productive anymore, so you can't make up new words with it. Use "-mäßig" for that.)
- 1. -come (noun version of "kommen", but ONLY used in compounds. It's not productive any more so you can't come up with new words and expect them to sound idiomatic)
- 1. the turning into, the becoming (Used as second part of compounds that are about becoming something. It's not common at all, though, and you should not make up new words with it.)
- 1. every now and then
- 1. disgusting
- spoken past: hatabgebildetwritten past (preterite): bildete ab1. to depict (Capture in pics, sounds a bit formal)2. to map, to transform (In the mathematical sense)
- Plural: Abbildungen1. the graphic (pictures and so on in books)2. the mapping, the transformation (in the mathematical sense... if you don't know what that means, then you won't need it :))
- spoken past: istabgeblättertwritten past (preterite): blätterte ab1. to peel off, to flake off (Pretty much only used for paint.)
- spoken past: hatabgebrachtwritten past (preterite): brachte ab1. to talk sb out of sth ("jemanden (Acc) von etwas (Dative) abbringen); always needs to come with the von-part.)
- spoken past: hatabgedecktwritten past (preterite): deckte ab1. to cover, put a cover over (so that others can’t see it or so that it’s away from the air or the rain)2. to cover (for topics)
- Plural: Abdeckstifte1. the concealer
- Plural: Abdeckungen1. the cover (object that covers something. NOT the more figurative cover)
- Plural: Abdrucke1. the print (Not very common. Sometimes for footprints and sometimes for a print of a magazine)
- spoken past: hatwritten past (preterite):1. to print (With a focus on the fact that it'll be published. Think of a juicy celebrity photo and the editors are debating whether they should print it.)
- spoken past: hatabgedrücktwritten past (preterite): drückte ab1. to pull the trigger2. to pay money ("abdrücken (für)" - very colloquial and usually in contexts where you think something is quite a lot of money.)
- Plural: Abende1. the evening (German tends to use "Abend" up till midnight and beyond, if you're still active, while English would use "tonight")
- Plural: Abendmahle1. the supper (old school)
- spoken past:written past (preterite):1. in the evening(s) (Can refer to one evening as well as to evenings in general.)
- Plural: Aberglauben1. the superstition (In the sense of believing stuff like a certain number brings bad luck or a pig means good weather.)
- 1. superstitious
- spoken past: hatabgefangenwritten past (preterite): fing ab1. to intercept
- spoken past: hatabgefeiertwritten past (preterite): feierte ab1. to party really hard (kind of slang)
- spoken past: istabgeflossenwritten past (preterite): floss ab1. to flow away, out (Primarily for water that is "stuck" somewhere (sink or low area of land) but it's also used in a financial context for funds or liquidity.)
- Plural: Abflüsse1. the drain (Primarily in context of plumbing)2. the outflow
- Plural: Abfolgen1. to sequence (Not very common)
- Plural: Abführmittel1. the laxative
- Plural: Abgänge1. the departure (Sense of leaving only, rare)2. in the finish ("im Abgang" - in context of describing wine)
- spoken past: istabgegangenwritten past (preterite): ging ab1. to come off (stickers, pictures on a wall, etc)2. to go crazy/wild (for example people dancing or throwing a fit, but also for songs that are really energetic)3. to leave the stage or the scene (ONLY in context of theater)4. happen, take place (Quite common colloquial option for "to happen". Also used to ask "What's up?")5. to be lacking from ("jemandem abgehen" - more common in the South of Germany)
- 1. out of touch (In the sense of "having lost touch with the real world". Sounds negative and conceited.)
- 1. expired (for food and voucher codes)
- 1. distracted
- 1. besides, aside from, apart from
- 1. apart from that, that aside
- 1. worn out, drawn (for people, not too common)
- spoken past: hatabgewöhntwritten past (preterite): gewöhnte ab1. to break a habit, to stop ("sich (Dativ) abgewöhnen"... literally once used to be "to wean off")
- spoken past: hatabgegossenwritten past (preterite): goss ab1. to drain (For pasta, rice and other things you cook. You "pour off" the water.)
- spoken past: hatabgegucktwritten past (preterite): guckte ab1. to crib, to peek (The idea is "to learn or find out by watching someone". The self reference needs to be there and it's in Dative. In South Germany, also with "schauen" instead of "gucken")
- spoken past: hatabgehabtwritten past (preterite): hatte ab1. to get a piece/share (colloquial, mostly used to ask if you can have a piece or state that you'd like to have a share. Not used to talk about actually getting one)
- spoken past: hatabgehandeltwritten past (preterite): handelte ab1. to fully discuss a topic (Mostly in context of a monologue or text, not for an engaging conversation among friends.)
