vorkommen
German, verb
vorkommen is spelled V-O-R-K-O-M-M-E-N (9 letters) and appears 22 times per million words in written German, the 3,577th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Vorkommen is a German verb meaning “to appear, to occur (in a given location or situation)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With a capital, Vorkommen is a different word: “occurrence”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “sich nach vorn bewegen”.
What does vorkommen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to appear, to occur (in a given location or situation)
Irene Adler ist eine der bemerkenswertesten Figuren in der Sherlock-Holmes-Serie, obwohl sie nur in einer einzigen Geschichte vorkommt.
- 2
to occur, to happen (with some regularity)
Keine Sorge, sowas kommt ganz selten vor.
- 3
to seem, to appear
- 4
to feel (oneself to be smart, stupid, clever, dumb, etc., at a specific point in time)
Ich komme mir wie ein Idiot vor.
noun
- 1
neuteroccurrence
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. sich nach vorn bewegen 2. existieren 3. jemandem passieren oder geschehen 4. auf jemanden in einer Weise wirken
noun: 1. Anwesenheit von etwas an einer gewissen Stelle 2. Fundstelle eines Bodenschatzes 3. Anwesenheit bestimmter Arten an einem Ort
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 vorkommen
- kommt vor present singular third-person
- kam vor past
- vorgekommen participle past
- käme vor past subjunctive
- sein auxiliary
- 4 strong
- vorkommend participle present
- vorzukommen infinitive infinitive-zu
- komme vor first-person indicative present
- kommen vor first-person indicative plural
- kommst vor indicative present second-person
- kommest vor second-person singular subjunctive
- kommet vor plural second-person subjunctive
- kamen vor first-person indicative plural
- kämen vor first-person plural subjunctive
- kamst vor indicative preterite second-person
- kamt vor indicative plural preterite
- kämest vor second-person singular subjunctive
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to vorkommen
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is vorkommen in German?
vorkommen appears 22 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).