beginnen
German, verb
beginnen is spelled B-E-G-I-N-N-E-N (8 letters) and appears 49 times per million words in written German, the 1,735th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Beginnen is a German verb meaning “to begin; to commence; to be started” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Beginnen is a different word: “gerund of beginnen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “etwas in Gang setzen, etwas starten, etwas anfangen”.
What does beginnen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to begin; to commence; to be started
Der Vortrag hat begonnen.
- 2
to start, to begin
Er hat den Vortrag begonnen.
noun
- 1
neutergerund of beginnen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. etwas in Gang setzen, etwas starten, etwas anfangen 2. sich in Bewegung setzen, starten, anfangen
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 beginnen
- beginnt present singular third-person
- begann past
- begonnen participle past
- begänne past subjunctive
- begönne past subjunctive
- haben auxiliary
- 3 strong
- beginnend participle present
- beginne first-person indicative present
- beginnst indicative present second-person
- beginnest second-person singular subjunctive
- beginnet plural second-person subjunctive
- begannen first-person indicative plural
- begännen first-person formal plural
- begönnen first-person formal plural
- begannst indicative preterite second-person
- begannt indicative plural preterite
- begännest formal rare second-person
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to beginnen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is beginnen in German?
beginnen appears 49 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).