German verb · CEFR A1

beginnen

Meaning in English: to begin, to start

Rank 1,229 of 5,000verbLevel A14 forms in the list
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Example

Wann beginnen die Sommerferien dieses Jahr?

When do the summer holidays start this year?

Forms of beginnen in the top 5,000

German verbs change their ending with the person and tense, and each form is counted on its own. These forms of beginnen are also in the top 5,000:

beginnt#773
begins, startsA1

Der Film beginnt um halb neun.
The film starts at half past eight.

begonnen#1,337
begun, startedA2

Der Film hat schon begonnen.
The film has already started.

begann#1,612
began, startedA2

Plötzlich begann es zu schneien.
Suddenly it started to snow.

How common is beginnen?

beginnen is number 1,229 of the 5,000 most common German words. In the texts the list is counted from it appears 74 times per million words — about once every 13,000 words. Its most frequent form is beginnt (#773).

Know every word down to this one and you recognise about 66% of the words in an ordinary German text. A1 means a beginner word, usually met in the first weeks of learning.

Next to it in the frequency list

  1. 1,225das Glückluck, happiness
  2. 1,226der Absatzparagraph, heel, sales
  3. 1,227der Wunschwish, request
  4. 1,228der Dienstservice, duty, shift
  5. 1,229beginnento begin, to start
  6. 1,230der Ballball
  7. 1,231persönlichpersonal(ly), in person
  8. 1,232ausreichendsufficient, enough
  9. 1,233die Bewegungmovement, exercise

In these word lists

Translations, levels and examples were written with AI help and are awaiting review by a native speaker — how the list was made.