leihen
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
From Middle High German līhen, from Old High German līhan, from Proto-West Germanic *līhwan.
Pronunciation
Verb
leihen (class 1 strong, third-person singular present leiht, past tense lieh, past participle geliehen, auxiliary haben)
- (transitive) to borrow
- 2010, Der Spiegel, number 25/2010, page 80:
- Ein Verbot sollte es nach Ansicht vieler Ökonomen auch für die sogenannten Leerverkäufe geben. Banken verkaufen dabei Aktien oder Währungen, die sie noch gar nicht besitzen oder allenfalls geliehen haben.
- In the opinion of many economists there should also exist a prohibition for the so-called short sales. In these banks sell shares or currencies that they do not own at all yet or have borrowed at best.
- (transitive) to lend, loan
Usage notes
- The German synonyms leihen, ausleihen, borgen are all used for “to borrow” as well as “to lend”. When both the giver and taker are named, there is obviously no room for ambiguity:
- When the above is not the case, the three mentioned verbs are generally all interpreted as “to borrow”, while verleihen is used for “to lend”:
- Ich habe das Buch geliehen. ― I've borrowed the book.
- Ich habe das Buch verliehen. ― I've lent the book (out).
- leihen and its derivatives are preferred in official contexts, e.g. when checking out books from a library or taking on a loan from a bank.
Conjugation
| infinitive | leihen | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present participle | leihend | ||||
| past participle | geliehen | ||||
| auxiliary | haben | ||||
| indicative | subjunctive | ||||
| singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
| present | ich leihe | wir leihen | i | ich leihe | wir leihen |
| du leihst | ihr leiht | du leihest | ihr leihet | ||
| er leiht | sie leihen | er leihe | sie leihen | ||
| preterite | ich lieh | wir liehen | ii | ich liehe1 | wir liehen1 |
| du liehst | ihr lieht | du liehest1 du liehst1 |
ihr liehet1 ihr lieht1 | ||
| er lieh | sie liehen | er liehe1 | sie liehen1 | ||
| imperative | leih (du) leihe (du) |
leiht (ihr) | |||
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
Derived terms
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
