machen
German, verb
machen is spelled M-A-C-H-E-N (6 letters) and appears 955 times per million words in written German, the 105th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Machen is a German verb meaning “to make, to produce, to create (an object, arrangement, situation, etc.)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Machen is a different word: “gerund of machen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “in einen bestimmten Zustand versetzen”.
What does machen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to make, to produce, to create (an object, arrangement, situation, etc.)
Ich hab dir einen Kuchen gemacht!
- 2
to make, prepare (food, drinks, etc.)
Machst du heute das Essen?
- 3
informalto do, perform, carry out (an action) (to execute; to put into operation)
Mach es!
- 4
to do (a noun); indicates an activity associated with a noun
Sport machen
- 5
to go (a specified sound) (to make the sound)
Das Auto machte "Bumm" und hielt an.
- 6
to make, to cause
Sie hat mich lachen gemacht.
- 7
to cause [with dative ‘for/in someone’ and accusative abstract noun ‘fear, pain, difficulty, happiness, etc.’] (often translated idiomatically with English make followed by an adjective)
Die Nacht macht mir Angst.
- 8
to make (to cause to be)
Dieser Film macht mich schläfrig.
noun
- 1
neutergerund of machen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. in einen bestimmten Zustand versetzen 2. herstellen, produzieren, anfertigen 3. veranlassen, früher auch mit Infinitiv 4. tun, tätigen, handeln, ausführen, erledigen
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 machen
- macht present singular third-person
- machte past
- gemacht participle past
- haben auxiliary
- machend participle present
- mache first-person indicative present
- machst indicative present second-person
- machest second-person singular subjunctive
- machet plural second-person subjunctive
- machten first-person indicative plural
- machtest indicative preterite second-person
- machtet indicative plural preterite
- mach imperative second-person singular
- habe gemacht first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben gemacht first-person indicative multiword-construction
- mache! imperative singular
- mach! imperative singular
- macht! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to machen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is machen in German?
machen appears 955 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).