bewegen
German, verb
bewegen is spelled B-E-W-E-G-E-N (7 letters) and appears 43 times per million words in written German, the 1,972nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Bewegen is a German verb meaning “to motivate; to persuade; to prompt (someone or something to do something); to make (someone or something to do something); to induce; to…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Bewegen is a different word: “gerund of bewegen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “die Lage oder Stellung von etwas im Raum verändern; etwas von einem Ort zum anderen schaffen”.
What does bewegen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to motivate; to persuade; to prompt (someone or something to do something); to make (someone or something to do something); to induce; to get (someone or something to do something)
verb
- 1
to move; to stir
- 2
to move, to touch, to affect emotionally
- 3
to exercise (intransitive)
noun
- 1
neutergerund of bewegen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. die Lage oder Stellung von etwas im Raum verändern; etwas von einem Ort zum anderen schaffen 2. die eigene Lage oder Stellung im Raum verändern; von einem Ort zum anderen kommen 3. körperlich betätigen 4. jemanden innerlich erregen oder beeindrucken, bestimmte Gefühle hervorrufen
verb: 1. die Handlung von jemandem in eine beabsichtigte Richtung beeinflussen; jemanden dazu bringen, etwas zu tun
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 bewegen
- bewegt present singular third-person
- bewog past
- bewogen participle past
- bewöge past subjunctive
- haben auxiliary
- 4 strong
- bewegend participle present
- bewege first-person indicative present
- bewegst indicative present second-person
- bewegest second-person singular subjunctive
- beweget plural second-person subjunctive
- bewögen first-person formal plural
- bewogst indicative preterite second-person
- bewogt indicative plural preterite
- bewögest formal rare second-person
- bewögst formal rare second-person
- bewöget formal plural rare
- bewögt formal plural rare
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to bewegen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is bewegen in German?
bewegen appears 43 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).