German

Noun

Hauen f

1. plural of Haue

Finnish

Noun

hauen

1. Genitive singular form of hauki.

German

Etymology

From Middle High German houwen, Old High German houwan, from Proto-Germanic *hawwaną. Cognate with English hew.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈhaʊ̯ən], [ˈhaʊ̯n]
• Hyphenation: hau‧en

Verb

hauen ‎(third-person singular present haut, past tense haute or hieb, past participle gehauen or gehaut, auxiliary haben)

1. (literary) to thrust, slash (with a weapon)

   Er hieb nach meinem Helm. — “He thrust for my helmet.”

2. (transitive) to cut, hew

   Der Einbrecher haut ein Loch in die Wand. — “The burglar cuts a hole in the wall.”

3. (colloquial) to hit, beat, bang, whack

   Meine Mutter hat ihn gehauen. — “My mother hit him.”

   Sie haute die Nägel in die Wand. — “She banged the nails into the wall”

4. (reflexive, colloquial) to fling oneself

   Ich werde mich in die Falle hauen. — “I'm going to hit the sack”

5. (regional) to chop, chop down

Usage notes

The strong preterite form hieb is only common in the literary sense of to thrust, and also in the set phrase in die gleiche Kerbe hauen, otherwise it's rare and/or stilted, with haute being used instead. However, the main past participle is still gehauen outside of some regional vernaculars.

Conjugation

Weak Conjugation

Strong Conjugation

Synonyms

• (beat, hit): schlagen
• (fight): prügeln

Derived terms

• abhauen
• anhauen
• umhauen

Related terms

• Hauer
• Haue
• Hieb

Phrases

• auf den Putz hauen
• auf den Tisch hauen