hinterfragen
German, verb[hɪntɐˈfʁaːɡn̩]
hinterfragen is spelled H-I-N-T-E-R-F-R-A-G-E-N (12 letters) and appears 5.4 times per million words in written German, the 11,619th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Hinterfragen is a German verb meaning “to question, to scrutinise, to challenge” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The German Wiktionary defines it as “überlegen und/oder herausfinden, ob eine Aussage wahr beziehungsweise glaubhaft ist oder welche Intention…”.
What does hinterfragen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to question, to scrutinise, to challenge
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. überlegen und/oder herausfinden, ob eine Aussage wahr beziehungsweise glaubhaft ist oder welche Intention oder Gründe hinter einer Aussage oder Handlung stehen
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 hinterfragen
- hinterfragt present singular third-person
- hinterfragte past
- haben auxiliary
- hinterfragend participle present
- hinterfrage first-person indicative present
- hinterfragst indicative present second-person
- hinterfragest second-person singular subjunctive
- hinterfraget plural second-person subjunctive
- hinterfragten first-person indicative plural
- hinterfragtest indicative preterite second-person
- hinterfragtet indicative plural preterite
- hinterfrag imperative second-person singular
- habe hinterfragt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben hinterfragt first-person indicative multiword-construction
- hinterfrag! imperative singular
- hinterfrage! imperative singular
- hinterfragt! imperative plural
- hinterfragt haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce hinterfragen?
- [hɪntɐˈfʁaːɡn̩]
Sources: English Wiktionary, German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to hinterfragen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is hinterfragen in German?
hinterfragen appears 5.4 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).