altern
German, verb
altern is a German verb meaning “to age” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Altern is a different word: “gerund of altern”.
What does altern mean in English?
verb
- 1
to age
noun
- 1
neutergerund of altern
noun
- 1
neuterdative plural of Alter
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Älterwerden
The definition in the German Wiktionary, in German.
Source: German Wiktionary, dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of altern
- altert present singular third-person
- alterte past
- gealtert participle past
- sein auxiliary
- alternd participle present
- altre first-person indicative present
- altere first-person indicative present
- alter first-person indicative present
- alterst indicative present second-person
- alterest second-person singular subjunctive
- altrest second-person singular subjunctive
- alteret plural second-person subjunctive
- altret plural second-person subjunctive
- alterten first-person indicative plural
- altertest indicative preterite second-person
- altertet indicative plural preterite
- Alterns genitive singular
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to altern
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is altern in German?
altern appears 2.8 times per million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).