kaufen
German, verb
kaufen is spelled K-A-U-F-E-N (6 letters) and appears 138 times per million words in written German, the 640th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Kaufen is a German verb meaning “to buy, to purchase” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). On this page, Käufen is a different word: “dative plural of Kauf”. With a capital, Kaufen is a different word: “gerund of kaufen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “Ware gegen Entgelt erwerben”.
What does kaufen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to buy, to purchase
Sie kauft ein Auto.
- 2
to buy, to purchase for someone
Ich kaufe meinem Sohn einen Computer.
noun
- 1
masculinedative plural of Kauf
noun
- 1
neutergerund of kaufen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Ware gegen Entgelt erwerben 2. ein Verpflichtungsgeschäft zum Erwerb eines Gegenstands eingehen, das von dem Erfüllungsgeschäft (Übertragung des Eigentums) zu unterscheiden ist. 3. eine Person unter Druck setzen, ernsthaft mit ihr diskutieren 4. eine Person bestechen
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 kaufen
- kauft present singular third-person
- kaufte past
- gekauft participle past
- haben auxiliary
- kaufend participle present
- kaufe first-person indicative present
- kaufst indicative present second-person
- kaufest second-person singular subjunctive
- kaufet plural second-person subjunctive
- kauften first-person indicative plural
- kauftest indicative preterite second-person
- kauftet indicative plural preterite
- kauf imperative second-person singular
- habe gekauft first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gekauft first-person indicative multiword-construction
- kauf! imperative singular
- kauft! imperative plural
- gekauft haben active infinitive perfect
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to kaufen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is kaufen in German?
kaufen appears 138 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).