vertreiben
German, verb
vertreiben is spelled V-E-R-T-R-E-I-B-E-N (10 letters) and appears 7.8 times per million words in written German, the 8,702nd most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Vertreiben is a German verb meaning “to force to leave, to drive away” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Vertreiben is a different word: “gerund of vertreiben”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “jemanden oder etwas dazu zwingen, einen Ort zu verlassen”.
What does vertreiben mean in English?
verb
- 1
to force to leave, to drive away
- 2
to pass (time)
die Zeit vertreiben.
- 3
to put on the market, to sell (especially in large quantities)
Wir vertreiben viele feine Produkte in diesem Geschäft.
- 4
to put colors softly together
noun
- 1
neutergerund of vertreiben
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. jemanden oder etwas dazu zwingen, einen Ort zu verlassen 2. etwas zum Verkauf anbieten
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 vertreiben
- vertreibt present singular third-person
- vertrieb past
- vertrieben participle past
- haben auxiliary
- 1 strong
- vertreibend participle present
- vertreibe first-person indicative present
- vertreibst indicative present second-person
- vertreibest second-person singular subjunctive
- vertreibet plural second-person subjunctive
- vertriebe first-person formal rare
- vertriebst indicative preterite second-person
- vertriebt indicative plural preterite
- vertriebest formal rare second-person
- vertriebet formal plural rare
- vertreib imperative second-person singular
- vertreibe! imperative singular
- vertreibt! imperative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to vertreiben
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is vertreiben in German?
vertreiben appears 7.8 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).