nehmen
German, verb
nehmen is spelled N-E-H-M-E-N (6 letters) and appears 282 times per million words in written German, the 324th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Nehmen is a German verb meaning “to take (something into one's possession or on one's body)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Nehmen is a different word: “gerund of nehmen”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “eine Sache greifen”.
What does nehmen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to take (something into one's possession or on one's body)
Wer hat meinen Hut genommen?
- 2
to take from
Die Niederlage nahm der Mannschaft den Mut.
- 3
to hold (in one's hands), to grasp
Hier, nimm meine Hand.
- 4
to take, to consider (a statement, a situation, an idea, etc, in a certain way, for example seriously, badly, personally)
Die Polizei nimmt die Angriffe ernst.
- 5
to capture, to arrest
Die Verbrecher wurden in Gewahrsam genommen.
- 6
to ingest (e.g. a pill)
Nimm etwas Aspirin, wenn du Kopfschmerzen hast.
- 7
to move into, to sit at (one's assigned position)
Meine Damen und Herren, bitte nehmen Sie Ihre Plätze.
- 8
to use (time, effort, etc. for a specific purpose)
Du solltest dir etwas Zeit nehmen, um dich zu entspannen.
noun
- 1
neutergerund of nehmen
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. eine Sache greifen 2. etwas von einem Ort entfernen und in seinen Besitz bringen 3. etwas aussuchen und es nutzen 4. eine Vielzahl von charakteristischen Verbindungen, die eigene Bedeutungen haben
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 nehmen
- nimmt present singular third-person
- nahm past
- genommen participle past
- nähme past subjunctive
- haben auxiliary
- 4 strong
- nehmend participle present
- nehme first-person indicative present
- nimmst indicative present second-person
- nehmt indicative plural present
- nehmest second-person singular subjunctive
- nehmet plural second-person subjunctive
- nahmen first-person indicative plural
- nähmen first-person plural subjunctive
- nahmst indicative preterite second-person
- nahmt indicative plural preterite
- nähmest second-person singular subjunctive
- nähmst second-person singular subjunctive
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to nehmen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is nehmen in German?
nehmen appears 282 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).