wesen

See also: Wesen, węsen, and -wesen

German Low German

Alternative forms

• węsen, wäsen, wiäsen
• weasen (New Saxon Spelling)

Etymology

From Middle Low German wēsen, from Old Saxon wesan, from Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes-.

All the forms with initial w- (imperative and past tense) derive from this root. It is related to Old English wesan, Dutch wezen, West Frisian wêze.

The original infinitive is wesen but a second infinitive sien also exists. The infinitive wesen is still the most used one, but in general which one is used is a matter of personal preference and/or region.

The infinitive sien derives from Middle Low German sîn, from Old Saxon sīn. Along with the words is and sünd, it derives ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁es- (“to be”), which had no separate infinitive in Germanic. The modern infinitive sien was probably back-formed in late Old Saxon from the former first-person plural subjunctive sīn (“we be”), since this form had become identical to the infinitive in other verbs during the late Old Saxon period. Compare also Dutch zijn and its alternative infinitive wezen.

Finally, the forms bin/bün and bist/büst derive from Proto-Germanic *beuną (“to be, to become”), from *bʰuH- (“to become”), which survives only as relic forms in the West Germanic languages and not at all in the others. Its infinitive and non-singular forms are only attested in (Old) English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋɛː.zən/, /ˈvɛː.zən/ (most areas, including parts of Brandenburg)
• IPA^(key): /ˈwɛː.zən/, /ˈβɛː.zən/ (conservative pronunciation for most areas; becoming steadily rarer post 17th century)
• IPA^(key): /ˈʋeː.ən/, /ˈʋɛːn/ (areas with historical Frisian settlement)
• IPA^(key): /ˈʋɪɛ.zən/, /ˈʋɪa.zən/ (parts of Westphalia)
• IPA^(key): /ˈʋeː.zən/ (some dialects at the Dutch border and North Sea coast)
• IPA^(key): /ˈβeːa.zən/, /ˈʋeːa.zən/ (Brandenburg)

Verb

wesen (past singular weer, past participle wesen or west, auxiliary verb wesen)

1. (intransitive) To be, to exist.

   Wesen oder nich wesen, dat is de Fraag.

   To be or not to be, that is the question.

   Weerst du dor Saterdag ook?

   Were you there too Saturday?

2. (transitive, copulative) Used to connect a noun to an adjective that describes it.

   De Straat is breet.

   The street is broad.

3. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the perfect tense of the active voice of some verbs, together with a past participle.
   Note: The perfect tense of most other verbs is formed using hebben.

   He is hier nie west.

   He has never been here.

4. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the perfect tense of the passive voice, together with a past participle.
   Note: The imperfect tense passive is formed using warrn.

   Se weren höört.

   They had been heard.

   De Wagen schall köfft wesen.

   The car will have been bought.

5. (transitive, auxiliary) Used to form the continuous forms of various tenses, together with an't.

   De Hund weer an't Lopen.

   The dog was running.

6. (intransitive) To go, to go on a trip and return.

   Ik bün för en Wiel na de Dokter.

   I am going to the doctor for a while.

   He is vundaag na Düsseldörp west.

   He's been to Düsseldorf today.

7. (intransitive, impersonal) Used to indicate weather, temperature or some other general condition.

   Dat is böös warm vundaag.

   It is very warm today.

8. (transitive, copulative, mathematics) To equal; used to indicate that the values on either side of an equation are the same, often used with gliek an.

   Dree Mal fief is gliek (an) föffteihn.

   Three times five equals fifteen.

9. (intransitive) To have the next turn in a game.

   Nu büst du.

   It is your turn now.

10. (with an indirect object and no subject) It is, be

    Mi is dat koolt nu.

    To me it is cold. (“I feel cold.”)

Usage notes

• The stem wes- is pronounced with an open vowel or diphthong in all forms, in dialects which have not merged these vowels with close long vowels. (cf. Pronunciation section)
• The original forms are marked bold, the other forms were created later in a process of pattern regularisation.
• The forms with ü come from later rounding due to a mixture of labial environment and unstressed position.

Conjugation

Conjugation of wesen (irregular verb)

infinitive	wesen
indicative	present	preterite
1st person singular	bin, bün, sin, sen	weer, was
2nd person singular	bist, büst	weerst, weres
3rd person singular	is, es, ös	weer, was
plural	sind, sünd, sin	weren, wassen
imperative	present	—
singular	wes, si
plural	wes(e)t
participle	present	past
	wesen(de)	(e)wesen, (e)west, gewesen, gewest
Note: This conjugation is one of many; neither its grammar nor spelling apply to all dialects.

Synonyms

• sin, sien
• seyn, syn

See also

• Wesen
• wesentlich

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch wesan, from Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɛːzən/

Verb

wēsen

1. to be

   Synonym: sijn

   • 1249, Schepenbrief van Bochoute, Velzeke, eastern Flanders:

     Si maken bekent die nu sien ende wesen selen

     They make known to those who are now and will be

Inflection

This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: wezen
  • Afrikaans: wees
  • Jersey Dutch: wêze
  • Negerhollands: wees, wis
• Limburgish: waeze

Further reading

• “wesen (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• “wesen (II)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “wesen (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page II

Middle High German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (before 13^th CE) /ˈwɛs̠ən/

Verb

sīn or wësen (irregular, third-person singular present ist, past tense was, past participle gewësen, past subjunctive wære, auxiliary sīn)

1. Alternative form of sīn

Middle Low German

Etymology

From Old Saxon wesan, from Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną.

Pronunciation

• Stem vowel: ē²
  • (originally) IPA^(key): /wɪɛzən/

Verb

wēsen

1. to be

Usage notes

• Wēsen is a verb with a suppletive conjugation based on multiple Proto-Germanic stems. For many verb forms, authors freely chose between forms based on the stems wēs- and sî-, without semantic impact. This is also true for modern Low German and Dutch. For the forms based on the sî- stem, see the respective entry at sîn.

Conjugation

Conjugation of wesen

Plain Infinitive	wēsen
Full Infinitive (Gerund)	tô wēsene or tô wēsende
Verbal Noun	wēsen
Participles			Imperatives
Present	wēsende		2nd Person Singular	wes
Past	gewēsen or gewest		2nd Person Plural	wēset
	Indicative		Subjunctive
	Present	Preterite	Present	Preterite
1st Person Singular	bin	was	wēse	wêre
2nd Person Singular	bist	wêrest	sîst	wêrest
3rd Person Singular	is	was	wēse	wêre
Plural	sint	wêren	sîn	wêren

Alternative forms

• sîn

Descendants

• Dutch Low Saxon: waen
• German Low German: wesen, ween