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vergeben

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

German

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /fərˈɡeːbən/, /fɛr-/, [fɐˈɡeː.bm̩], [fɛɐ̯-], [-bən]
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: ver‧ge‧ben

Etymology 1

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From Middle High German vergeben, from Old High German fargeban, from Proto-Germanic *fragebaną. Analyzable as ver- +‎ geben. Cognate with Dutch vergeven, English forgive, Icelandic fyrirgefa.

Verb

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vergeben (class 5 strong, third-person singular present vergibt, past tense vergab, past participle vergeben, past subjunctive vergäbe, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive or intransitive) to forgive [with dative ‘someone’ (optional) and accusative ‘for something’]
    Synonym: verzeihen
    Kannst du mir vergeben?Can you forgive me?
    Vergib mir meine Sünden!Forgive me my sins.
  2. (transitive) to assign; to allocate; to give (a job); to give or set (a task); to award (a contract), to give away [with accusative ‘something’ and an (+ accusative) ‘to someone’]
    Wir haben den Auftrag an ein Drittunternehmen vergeben.
    We have awarded the contract to an external company.
Usage notes
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  • Vergeben implies a greater degree of moral guilt than verzeihen. It is used in the context of sin or crime, or otherwise of severe misbehaviour, such as acts of violence, insult, humiliation, deceit, and the like.
  • The noun corresponding to the sense “to forgive” is Vergebung, while that corresponding to the sense “to assign” is Vergabe.
Conjugation
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Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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Participle

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vergeben

  1. past participle of vergeben

Adjective

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vergeben (strong nominative masculine singular vergebener, not comparable)

  1. taken; not free
  2. (informal) not single: married or in a relationship

Further reading

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  • vergeben” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • vergeben” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • vergeben” in Duden online
  • vergeben” in OpenThesaurus.de