fringsen
Appearance
German
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Frings + -en, after Josef Cardinal Frings (1887-1978), Catholic bishop of Cologne, who during the famine years following 1945 declared that theft of essential goods for private consumption was morally and religiously tolerable.
Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]fringsen (weak, third-person singular present fringst, past tense fringste, past participle gefringst, auxiliary haben)
- (colloquial, Rhineland) to nick, steal (suggesting that it is harmless petty theft)
- In dem Restaurant hab ich mir paar Zahnstocher für zu Hause gefringst.
- At that restaurant I nicked myself a couple of toothpicks for at home.
Conjugation
[edit]infinitive | fringsen | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
present participle | fringsend | ||||
past participle | gefringst | ||||
auxiliary | haben | ||||
indicative | subjunctive | ||||
singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
present | ich fringse | wir fringsen | i | ich fringse | wir fringsen |
du fringst | ihr fringst | du fringsest | ihr fringset | ||
er fringst | sie fringsen | er fringse | sie fringsen | ||
preterite | ich fringste | wir fringsten | ii | ich fringste1 | wir fringsten1 |
du fringstest | ihr fringstet | du fringstest1 | ihr fringstet1 | ||
er fringste | sie fringsten | er fringste1 | sie fringsten1 | ||
imperative | frings (du) fringse (du) |
fringst (ihr) |
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.