vorlaufen
German, verb
vorlaufen is spelled V-O-R-L-A-U-F-E-N (9 letters) and appears about once in every 6 million words in written German, the 125,379th most frequent German word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Vorlaufen is a German verb meaning “to run on ahead” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). On this page, Vorläufen is a different word: “dative plural of Vorlauf”. The German Wiktionary defines it as “zu einem Ziel gehen, bevor der Rest einer Gruppe auch losgeht”.
What does vorlaufen mean in English?
verb
- 1
to run on ahead
noun
- 1
masculinedative plural of Vorlauf
Source: English Wiktionary, German section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How German dictionaries define it
verb: 1. zu einem Ziel gehen, bevor der Rest einer Gruppe auch losgeht 2. eine Kür vorführen 3. nach vorne gehen
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 vorlaufen
- läuft vor present singular third-person
- lief vor past
- vorgelaufen participle past
- sein auxiliary
- 7 strong
- vorlaufend participle present
- vorzulaufen infinitive infinitive-zu
- laufe vor first-person indicative present
- laufen vor first-person indicative plural
- läufst vor indicative present second-person
- lauft vor indicative plural present
- laufest vor second-person singular subjunctive
- laufet vor plural second-person subjunctive
- liefen vor first-person indicative plural
- liefe vor first-person singular subjunctive
- liefst vor indicative preterite second-person
- lieft vor indicative plural preterite
- liefest vor second-person singular subjunctive
Source: English Wiktionary and German Wiktionary (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is vorlaufen in German?
vorlaufen appears about once in every 6 million words in written German.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).