Wiktionary

wesen

See also: Wesen, węsen, and -wesen

German Low German

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  A user suggests that this German Low German entry be cleaned up, giving the reason: “"original" in the etymology section and the usage notes section needs further explanation.
Compared with PIE probably no forms are original anymore, but all are changed in some way; compared with MLG e.g. both infinitives wesen and sin (also spelled sien) from wesen and sîn would be original. Also the table is misleading anyway, as e.g. "gewesen, wesen" is more original than "(e)wesen"”.
Please see the discussion on Requests for cleanup(+) or the talk page for more information and remove this template after the problem has been dealt with.

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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

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  • 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

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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

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  • 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

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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

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See also

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Middle Dutch

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Verb

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wēsen

  1. to be
    Synonym: sijn

Inflection

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This verb needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

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

Further reading

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Middle High German

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Pronunciation

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

Verb

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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

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Verb

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wēsen

  1. to be

Usage notes

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  • 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

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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

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Descendants

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