German verb · CEFR A1

lesen

Meaning in English: read

Rank 716 of 5,000verbLevel A13 forms in the list
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Example

Abends lesen die Kinder noch ein bisschen.

In the evening the children read for a bit.

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

gelesen#3,998
read (past participle)A1

Hast du das Buch schon gelesen?
Have you read the book yet?

liest#4,929
readsA1

Mein Vater liest jeden Morgen die Zeitung.
My father reads the newspaper every morning.

How common is lesen?

lesen is number 716 of the 5,000 most common German words. In the texts the list is counted from it appears 126 times per million words — about once every 7,900 words.

Know every word down to this one and you recognise about 61% 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. 712Bereichenareas, fields (dative plural)
  2. 713brauchenneed
  3. 714die Beratungadvice, consultation
  4. 715die Kirchechurch
  5. 716lesenread
  6. 717fandfound; thought (opinion)
  7. 718bereitready, prepared, willing
  8. 719der Umganghandling, dealing (with)
  9. 720die Stiftungfoundation (charity)

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.