German verb · CEFR A1

leben

Meaning in English: to live, to be alive

Rank 158 of 5,000verbLevel A13 forms in the list
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Example

Meine Großeltern leben auf dem Land.

My grandparents live in the country.

Forms of leben 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 leben are also in the top 5,000:

lebt#1,480
livesA1

Meine Schwester lebt seit Jahren in Spanien.
My sister has been living in Spain for years.

gelebt#4,806
livedA2

Sie hat zehn Jahre in Wien gelebt.
She lived in Vienna for ten years.

How common is leben?

leben is number 158 of the 5,000 most common German words. In the texts the list is counted from it appears 549 times per million words — about once every 1,800 words.

Know every word down to this one and you recognise about 48% of the words in an ordinary German text. A1 means a beginner word, usually met in the first weeks of learning.

Related words in the list

Words built on leben:

Next to it in the frequency list

  1. 154welchewhich; some
  2. 155sollenshould, to be supposed to
  3. 156währendduring; while
  4. 157sondernbut (rather)
  5. 158lebento live, to be alive
  6. 159heutetoday
  7. 160allemall (dative); vor allem = above all
  8. 161deutschenGerman
  9. 162lassento let, to leave; to have done

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.