German

Noun

Gehen n ‎(genitive Gehens, no plural)

1. gerund of gehen: "going"

Declension

German

Alternative forms

• geh'n
• gehn (dated in formal prose, but still common informally and poetically)

Verb

gehen ‎(class 7 strong, third-person singular simple present geht, past tense ging, past participle gegangen, past subjunctive ginge, auxiliary sein)

1. (intransitive) to go, to walk
2. (transitive) to walk (some distance); to go (some distance) by foot
3. (intransitive) to leave

   Ich gehe jetzt.‎ ― I’m leaving now.

4. (intransitive) to leave, to take off (airplane, train)

   Wann geht dein Zug? − When is your train leaving?

5. (impersonal, intransitive) to be going; to be alright; indicates how the dative object fares

   Wie geht es dir?‎ ― How are you doing?

   Es geht mir gut.‎ ― I’m doing well. (Literally, “It goes well for me.”)

   Es geht.‎ ― It’s alright.

6. (colloquial, intransitive) to be possible

   Das würde vielleicht gehen.‎ ― That might be possible.

7. (colloquial, intransitive) to work, to function (of a machine, method or the like)

   Der Kaffeeautomat geht nicht.‎ ― The coffee dispenser doesn't work.

   • 2014, Der Spiegel, issue 21/2014, page 62:

     Aber erst in Beirut lernte sie, wie professionelles Kochen geht, die Logistik, das Timing, die Organisation, um mehrere Hundert Mahlzeiten zuzubereiten.

     But not until Beirut she learned how professional cooking works, the logistics, the timing, the organization for preparing several hundred meals.

8. (colloquial, intransitive) to be in progress; to last

   Die Sitzung geht bis ein Uhr.‎ ― The session is scheduled until one o’clock.

9. (regional or dated, impersonal, intransitive, with “auf” followed by a time) to approach; to be going (on some one)

   Es geht auf 8 Uhr.‎ ― It’s going on 8 o’clock.

Usage notes

Unlike English to go, German gehen does not mean "to travel somewhere" in general. A distinction must be made between gehen (walk), fahren (go by bike, car, train, or ship), and fliegen (go by plane). If used with a place one cannot or would not commonly walk to, gehen often implies that one intends to stay there permanently, e.g.: Ich gehe nach New York. – I'm going to live in New York.

Conjugation

Note: The 2nd person plural imperative can also be gehet in archaic or poetic style.

Antonyms

• kommen
• rennen

Derived terms

See also

• fahren