bestreiten
German
editEtymology
editFrom Middle High German bestrīten (“to fight against”), equivalent to be- + streiten. Compare English bestride. The sense “to pay” comes from the notion of “be able to cope with”.
Pronunciation
editVerb
editbestreiten (class 1 strong, third-person singular present bestreitet, past tense bestritt, past participle bestritten, auxiliary haben)
- to deny (assert to be false)
- Synonym: leugnen
- to dispute, contest, controvert (oppose a proposition or call it into question by argument or assertion)
- Der Philosoph bestritt die Existenz unveräußerlicher Menschenrechte.
- The philosopher disputed the existence of inalienable human rights.
- to pay for, to sustain financially
- Die Firma konnte die hohen Personalkosten nicht mehr bestreiten.
- The company became unable to pay its high labour costs.
Conjugation
editinfinitive | bestreiten | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
present participle | bestreitend | ||||
past participle | bestritten | ||||
auxiliary | haben | ||||
indicative | subjunctive | ||||
singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
present | ich bestreite | wir bestreiten | i | ich bestreite | wir bestreiten |
du bestreitest | ihr bestreitet | du bestreitest | ihr bestreitet | ||
er bestreitet | sie bestreiten | er bestreite | sie bestreiten | ||
preterite | ich bestritt | wir bestritten | ii | ich bestritte1 | wir bestritten1 |
du bestrittest du bestrittst |
ihr bestrittet | du bestrittest1 | ihr bestrittet1 | ||
er bestritt | sie bestritten | er bestritte1 | sie bestritten1 | ||
imperative | bestreit (du) bestreite (du) |
bestreitet (ihr) |
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
Derived terms
editFurther reading
edit- “bestreiten” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “bestreiten” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “bestreiten” in Duden online
- “bestreiten” in OpenThesaurus.de
Categories:
- German terms inherited from Middle High German
- German terms derived from Middle High German
- German terms prefixed with be-
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with audio links
- German lemmas
- German verbs
- German strong verbs
- German class 1 strong verbs
- German verbs using haben as auxiliary
- German terms with usage examples