klauen
See also: Klauen
German edit
Etymology edit
From earlier kläuen, from Middle High German kleuen, klæwen, from Old High German klawēn, chlawēn, klawjan, from Proto-Germanic *klawjaną. Later remodelled after and related to Klaue (“claw”), that is “to grab with one’s claws”. The sense “to steal” originated in West Central German and Low Franconian, and is supposed to have been spread among soldiers during World War I.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
klauen (weak, third-person singular present klaut, past tense klaute, past participle geklaut, auxiliary haben)
- (transitive, somewhat informal) to steal
- 1993, “Alles nur geklaut”, performed by Die Prinzen:
- Das ist alles nur geklaut und gestohlen, nur gezogen und geraubt / Entschuldigung, das hab' ich mir erlaubt
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- (with dative) to steal from
Usage notes edit
- Klauen is the most common word for “to steal” in colloquial German. Written standard German generally prefers stehlen, although klauen is also seen here and there.
- The syntactical construction is identical to that of stehlen (see there).
Conjugation edit
| infinitive | klauen | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present participle | klauend | ||||
| past participle | geklaut | ||||
| auxiliary | haben | ||||
| indicative | subjunctive | ||||
| singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
| present | ich klaue | wir klauen | i | ich klaue | wir klauen |
| du klaust | ihr klaut | du klauest | ihr klauet | ||
| er klaut | sie klauen | er klaue | sie klauen | ||
| preterite | ich klaute | wir klauten | ii | ich klaute1 | wir klauten1 |
| du klautest | ihr klautet | du klautest1 | ihr klautet1 | ||
| er klaute | sie klauten | er klaute1 | sie klauten1 | ||
| imperative | klau (du) klaue (du) |
klaut (ihr) | |||
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.