gewesen
German, adjective/ɡəˈveːzən/
gewesen is a German adjective meaning “former; erstwhile neutral, but now often with the negative tone of has-been” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a past participle of sein: been. The German Wiktionary defines it as “in der Vergangenheit existierend; der Vergangenheit angehörig”.
What does gewesen mean in English?
adjective
- 1
former; erstwhile neutral, but now often with the negative tone of has-been
verb
- 1
past participle of sein: been
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. in der Vergangenheit existierend; der Vergangenheit angehörig
verb: 1. Partizip Perfekt des Verbs sein
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 gewesen
- gewesener masculine nominative singular
- ist gewesen masculine predicative singular
- es ist gewesen neuter predicative singular
- sind gewesen plural predicative third-person
- gewesene feminine nominative singular
- gewesenes neuter nominative singular
- gewesenen genitive masculine singular
- gewesenem dative masculine singular
- der gewesene definite includes-article masculine
- die gewesene definite feminine includes-article
- das gewesene definite includes-article neuter
- die gewesenen definite includes-article nominative
- des gewesenen definite genitive includes-article
- der gewesenen definite feminine genitive
- dem gewesenen dative definite includes-article
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce gewesen?
- /ɡəˈveːzən/
- [ɡəˈveː.zn̩]
- [-ˈʋeː-]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is gewesen in German?
gewesen appears 245 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).