biegen

German

Etymology

From Middle High German biegen, from Old High German biogan, from Proto-West Germanic *beugan, from Proto-Germanic *beuganą, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰewgʰ- (to bend).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbiːɡən/
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Verb

biegen (class 2 strong, third-person singular present biegt, past tense bog, past participle gebogen, past subjunctive böge, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive) to bend something (to form something into a curve) [auxiliary haben]
    Diese Stange kann man leicht biegen.
    You can easily bend this pole.
  2. (reflexive) to bend; to be bent (to form oneself or be formed into a curve) [auxiliary haben]
    Die Bäume biegen sich im Wind.
    The trees are bending in the wind.
  3. (intransitive) to turn; to round a corner; to drive into a street; always requires some adverbial of location with it; otherwise use abbiegen [auxiliary sein]
    Er ist um die Ecke gebogen.
    He’s turned around the corner.
    Er biegt auf die Hauptstraße.
    He turns into the main street.

Usage notes

  • biegen is the most general word for “to bend”. However, in some cases beugen is preferable. See the latter for detailed notes.

Conjugation

Derived terms

See also

Further reading

  • biegen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • biegen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • biegen” in Duden online
  • biegen” in OpenThesaurus.de

Middle High German

Etymology

From Old High German biogan.

Verb

biegen

  1. to bow
  2. to bend

Conjugation

Descendants

  • German: biegen
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