schwören
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: schworen
Etymology
From Middle High German swern, from Old High German swerien, sweren, from Proto-West Germanic *swarjan, from Proto-Germanic *swarjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *swer-.
Compare Low German swören, sweren, Hunsrik schweere, Dutch zweren, English swear, Danish sværge, Swedish svära.
Pronunciation
Verb
schwören (class 6 strong, third-person singular present schwört, past tense schwor or (archaic) schwur, past participle geschworen, past subjunctive schwöre or schwüre, auxiliary haben)
- (intransitive or transitive) to swear; to take an oath [with accusative ‘an oath, a statement, loyalty, etc.’, along with dative ‘to someone’, along with auf (+ accusative) ‘on/by the Bible/etc.’ or bei (+ dative) ‘by God or other deity’]
- Du brauchst nicht zu schwören. Ich glaube es dir auch so.
- You don’t need to swear. I believe you already.
- Ich schwöre es dir. ― I swear it to you.
- Sie hat mir Treue geschworen. ― She swore me loyalty.
- Er hat einen Eid geschworen. ― He swore an oath.
- (intransitive) to swear by; to be convinced of; to like [with auf (+ accusative) ‘something’]
- Meine Nachbarin schwört auf dieses Duschbad.
- My neighbour swears by this shower gel.
Usage notes
- That which is invoked during the oath is given with the prepositions bei (“by”) or auf (“on”). The latter is chiefly used with something one holds or touches while swearing, e.g. auf die Bibel (“on the Bible”). Otherwise bei is more common and it is generally only appropriate with people or living beings, e.g. bei Gott (“by God, to God”).
- The subject or topic of the oath is given with the preposition auf, e.g. ich würde nicht darauf schwören (“I wouldn’t swear on it”). Only this preposition is also used in the idiom “to swear by”. Hence, the German idiom may mean that one vouches for the quality or effectiveness of something, rather than that one cherishes it so much as to invoke it in one’s oaths.
Conjugation
| infinitive | schwören | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| present participle | schwörend | ||||
| past participle | geschworen | ||||
| auxiliary | haben | ||||
| indicative | subjunctive | ||||
| singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
| present | ich schwöre | wir schwören | i | ich schwöre | wir schwören |
| du schwörst | ihr schwört | du schwörest | ihr schwöret | ||
| er schwört | sie schwören | er schwöre | sie schwören | ||
| preterite | ich schwor ich schwur1 |
wir schworen wir schwuren1 |
ii | ich schwöre2 ich schwüre2 |
wir schwören2 wir schwüren2 |
| du schworst du schwurst1 |
ihr schwort ihr schwurt1 |
du schwörest2 du schwörst2 du schwürest2 du schwürst2 |
ihr schwöret2 ihr schwört2 ihr schwüret2 ihr schwürt2 | ||
| er schwor er schwur1 |
sie schworen sie schwuren1 |
er schwöre2 er schwüre2 |
sie schwören2 sie schwüren2 | ||
| imperative | schwör (du) schwöre (du) |
schwört (ihr) | |||
1Archaic.
2Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
Synonyms
- (to swear): geloben; versprechen (both narrower)
Derived terms
- Schwören, Schwörung
- schwörend, geschworen
- abschwören, beschwören, einschwören, verschwören, zuschwören
- Stein und Bein schwören
Related terms
Further reading
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