telefonieren
German, verb
telefonieren is spelled T-E-L-E-F-O-N-I-E-R-E-N (12 letters) and appears 9.5 times per million words in written German, the 7,292nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Telefonieren is a German verb meaning “to have a telephone call” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Telefonieren is a different word: “gerund of telefonieren”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “mithilfe eines Telefons mit jemandem sprechen”.
What does telefonieren mean in English?
verb
- 1
to have a telephone call
Peter kommt gleich, er telefoniert noch mit seinen Eltern.
noun
- 1
neutergerund of telefonieren
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. mithilfe eines Telefons mit jemandem sprechen 2. jemandem etwas telefonisch wissen lassen 3. mit jemandem telefonisch in Verbindung treten
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 telefonieren
- telefoniert present singular third-person
- telefonierte past
- haben auxiliary
- telefonierend participle present
- telefoniere first-person indicative present
- telefonierst indicative present second-person
- telefonierest second-person singular subjunctive
- telefonieret plural second-person subjunctive
- telefonierten first-person indicative plural
- telefoniertest indicative preterite second-person
- telefoniertet indicative plural preterite
- telefonier imperative second-person singular
- habe telefoniert first-person indicative multiword-construction
- haben telefoniert first-person indicative multiword-construction
- telephonieren obsolete
- telefoniere! imperative singular
- telefonier! imperative singular
- telefoniert! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to telefonieren
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is telefonieren in German?
telefonieren appears 9.5 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).