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anfangen

German, verb

anfangen is spelled A-N-F-A-N-G-E-N (8 letters) and appears 46 times per million words in written German, the 1,852nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Anfangen is a German verb meaning “to begin; to commence” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). On this page, Anfängen is a different word: “dative plural of Anfang”. With a capital, Anfangen is a different word: “gerund of anfangen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “etwas beginnen”.

What does anfangen mean in English?

verb

  1. 1

    to begin; to commence

    Das Konzert fängt gleich an.

  2. 2

    to start

    Wann hast du angefangen zu rauchen?

  3. 3

    to begin, to start

    Morgen fangen wir mit dem Projekt an.

  4. 4

    to start; to keep talking about

    Er fängt ständig von seinen Hunden an.

  5. 5

    colloquialto begin something; to start something

    Wann hast du das Rauchen angefangen?

  6. 6

    colloquialto put (something) to good use, to do

    Haben Sie nichts Besseres mit Ihrer Zeit anzufangen?

noun

as Anfängen
  1. 1

    masculinedative plural of Anfang

noun

as Anfangen
  1. 1

    neutergerund of anfangen

Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How German dictionaries define it

verb: 1. etwas beginnen 2. beginnen, seinen Ausgangszeitpunkt haben 3. beginnen, seinen Ausgangspunkt haben

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 anfangen

  • fängt an present singular third-person
  • fing an past
  • angefangen participle past
  • haben auxiliary
  • sein Northwest-German auxiliary colloquial
  • 7 strong
  • haben or sein auxiliary
  • anfangend participle present
  • anzufangen infinitive infinitive-zu
  • fange an first-person indicative present
  • fangen an first-person indicative plural
  • fängst an indicative present second-person
  • fangt an indicative plural present
  • fangest an second-person singular subjunctive
  • fanget an plural second-person subjunctive
  • fingen an first-person indicative plural
  • finge an first-person formal rare
  • fingst an indicative preterite second-person

Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to anfangen

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is anfangen in German?

anfangen appears 46 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).

What to look up after anfangen