gelangen
German, verb
gelangen is a German verb meaning “to reach, get to, end up in (a place, location)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a first/third-person plural preterite of gelingen. With an umlaut, gelängen is a different word: “first/third-person plural subjunctive II of gelingen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “ein Ziel erreichen”.
What does gelangen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to reach, get to, end up in (a place, location)
Das kurze Video gelangte in falsche Hände.
- 2
to reach, arrive at (a destination)
Wir liefen stundenlang, um zur Grenze zu gelangen.
verb
- 1
first/third-person plural preterite of gelingen
verb
- 1
first/third-person plural subjunctive II of gelingen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. ein Ziel erreichen 2. einen angestrebten Zustand erreichen 3. veröffentlicht werden
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 gelangen
- gelangt present singular third-person
- gelangte past
- sein auxiliary
- gelangend participle present
- gelange first-person indicative present
- gelangst indicative present second-person
- gelangest second-person singular subjunctive
- gelanget plural second-person subjunctive
- gelangten first-person indicative plural
- gelangtest indicative preterite second-person
- gelangtet indicative plural preterite
- gelang imperative second-person singular
- bin gelangt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- sind gelangt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- gelang! imperative singular
- gelange! imperative singular
- gelangt! imperative plural
- gelangt sein active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to gelangen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is gelangen in German?
gelangen appears 26 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).