gönnen
German, verb
gönnen is spelled G-Ö-N-N-E-N (6 letters) and appears 8.3 times per million words in written German, the 8,191st most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Gönnen is a German verb meaning “to bestow, to indulge (someone's wishes), to treat to, to spoil” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Gönnen is a different word: “gerund of gönnen; the state of granting”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “etwas Gutes angedeihen lassen, eine Gunst gewähren”.
What does gönnen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to bestow, to indulge (someone's wishes), to treat to, to spoil
Ich würde meinen Kindern gerne einen speziellen Leckerbissen gönnen.
- 2
to be happy for someone because of their good fortune
Sie hatten so viel Pech im Leben; ich gönne ihnen den Lottogewinn.
noun
- 1
neutergerund of gönnen; the state of granting
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. etwas Gutes angedeihen lassen, eine Gunst gewähren 2. sich für jemanden freuen, der/die sein Glück verdient hat
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 gönnen
- gönnt present singular third-person
- gönnte past
- gegönnt participle past
- haben auxiliary
- gönnend participle present
- gönne first-person indicative present
- gönnst indicative present second-person
- gönnest second-person singular subjunctive
- gönnet plural second-person subjunctive
- gönnten first-person indicative plural
- gönntest indicative preterite second-person
- gönntet indicative plural preterite
- gönn imperative second-person singular
- habe gegönnt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gegönnt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- gönne! imperative singular
- gönnt! imperative plural
- gegönnt haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is gönnen in German?
gönnen appears 8.3 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).