fehlen
German, verb
fehlen is a German verb meaning “for there to be a lack [with dative ‘to someone/something’ and an (+ dative) ‘of something’] (idiomatically translated by English lack with…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Fehlen is a different word: “absence, dearth; absenteeism”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “nicht vorhanden sein”.
What does fehlen mean in English?
verb
- 1
for there to be a lack [with dative ‘to someone/something’ and an (+ dative) ‘of something’] (idiomatically translated by English lack with the dative object as the subject)
Der Suppe fehlt es an Geschmack.
- 2
to be absent, to be missing [with dative ‘to someone’] (idiomatically translated by English not have with the German subject as the direct object and the dative object as the subject)
Ich würde es kaufen, aber mir fehlt das Geld.
- 3
to be missed [with dative ‘by someone’] (idiomatically translated by English miss with the German subject as the direct object and the dative object as the subject)
Seit meinem Umzug fehlen mir meine Freunde.
- 4
to be felt
Fehlt dir etwas? - Nein, mir fehlt nichts, danke!
- 5
to be absent, to be missing
Das Gemälde fehlt an der Wand.
- 6
datedto fail
- 7
to sin, to err
- 8
datedto miss
noun
- 1
neutergerund of fehlen
- 2
neuterabsence, dearth; absenteeism
- 3
neuterdefault
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. nicht vorhanden sein 2. falsch handeln, sich irren 3. es fehlt an: nicht in genügendem Ausmaß vorhanden sein, nicht ausreichen, zu knapp sein, mangeln
noun: 1. der Zustand, nicht vorhanden oder anwesend zu sein
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 fehlen
- fehlt present singular third-person
- fehlte past
- gefehlt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- fehlend participle present
- fehle first-person indicative present
- fehlst indicative present second-person
- fehlest second-person singular subjunctive
- fehlet plural second-person subjunctive
- fehlten first-person indicative plural
- fehltest indicative preterite second-person
- fehltet indicative plural preterite
- fehl imperative second-person singular
- habe gefehlt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gefehlt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- fehl! imperative singular
- fehle! imperative singular
- fehlt! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to fehlen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is fehlen in German?
fehlen appears 60 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).