geschehen
German, verb
geschehen is spelled G-E-S-C-H-E-H-E-N (9 letters) and appears 58 times per million words in written German, the 1,483rd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Geschehen is a German verb meaning “to occur; to happen” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a past participle of geschehen. With a capital, Geschehen is a different word: “what is happening, what is going on”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “sich ereignen; zutragen”.
What does geschehen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to occur; to happen
Wie konnte das nur geschehen?
- 2
to happen
Was ist (mit) dir geschehen?
- 3
to serve right, to be deserved [with dative ‘someone’ and recht ‘right’] (in this construction passieren is not possible)
Das geschieht ihm recht.
verb
- 1
past participle of geschehen
- 2
over, lost, done for, doomed, dead
Um den ist es geschehen.
noun
- 1
neuterwhat is happening, what is going on
- 2
neuterevents, happenings
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. sich ereignen; zutragen 2. widerfahren
noun: 1. das, was vor sich geht, sich ereignet 2. Verlauf eines Geschehnisses
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 geschehen
- geschieht present singular third-person
- geschah past
- geschähe past subjunctive
- sein auxiliary
- 5 strong
- geschehend participle present
- geschehe first-person indicative present
- geschiehst indicative present second-person
- gescheht indicative plural present
- geschehest second-person singular subjunctive
- geschehet plural second-person subjunctive
- geschahen first-person indicative plural
- geschähen first-person formal plural
- geschahst indicative preterite second-person
- geschaht indicative plural preterite
- geschähest formal rare second-person
- geschähst formal rare second-person
- geschähet formal plural rare
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to geschehen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is geschehen in German?
geschehen appears 58 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).