gehen

• geh'n
• gehn (dated in formal prose, but still common informally and poetically)

From Middle High German gān, gēn, from Old High German gān, gēn, from Proto-Germanic *gāną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁- (“to leave”). Cognate with Dutch gaan, Low German gan, gahn, English go, Swedish and Danish gå. The form gēn instead of gān is of Bavarian origin, but many dialects of Central and Low German have -e- (from earlier -ei-) or ei in the 2nd and 3rd person singular present, in keeping with the Proto-Germanic irregular conjugation. The -h- was introduced into the spelling by analogy with sehen, in which it had become mute but was retained in spelling.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡeːən/, [ˈɡeː.ən] (official standard, but less common)
• IPA^(key): /ɡeːn/, [ɡeːn] (predominant)

• (file)

• (Bavaria)

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• Rhymes: -eːən, -eːn
• Hyphenation: ge‧hen

gehen (class 7 strong, third-person singular simple present geht, past tense ging, past participle gegangen, past subjunctive ginge, auxiliary sein)

1. (intransitive) to go, to walk
2. (transitive) to walk (some distance); to go (some distance) by foot
3. (intransitive) to leave

   Ich gehe jetzt. ― I’m leaving now.

4. (intransitive) to leave, to take off (airplane, train)

   Wann geht dein Zug?

   When is your train leaving?

5. (impersonal, intransitive) to be going; to be alright; indicates how the dative object fares

   Wie geht es dir? ― How are you doing?

   Es geht mir gut. ― I’m doing well. (Literally, “It goes well for me.”)

   Es geht. ― It’s alright.

6. (slightly informal, intransitive) to be possible

   Das würde vielleicht gehen. ― That might be possible.

7. (colloquial, intransitive) to work, to function (of a machine, method or the like)

   Synonym: funktionieren

   Der Kaffeeautomat geht nicht. ― The coffee dispenser doesn't work.

   • 2014, Der Spiegel, issue 21/2014, page 62:

     Aber erst in Beirut lernte sie, wie professionelles Kochen geht, die Logistik, das Timing, die Organisation, um mehrere Hundert Mahlzeiten zuzubereiten.

     But not until Beirut she learned how professional cooking works, the logistics, the timing, the organization for preparing several hundred meals.

8. (colloquial, intransitive) to be in progress; to last

   Die Sitzung geht bis ein Uhr. ― The session is scheduled until one o’clock.

9. (regional or dated, impersonal, intransitive, with auf followed by a time) to approach; to be going (on some one)

   Es geht auf 8 Uhr. ― It’s going on 8 o’clock.

Unlike English to go, German gehen does not mean "to travel somewhere" in general. A distinction must be made between gehen (walk), fahren (go by bike, car, train, or ship), and fliegen (go by plane). If used with a place one cannot or would not commonly walk to, gehen often implies that one intends to stay there permanently, e.g.: Ich gehe nach New York. – I'm going to live in New York.

Note: The 2nd person plural imperative can also be gehet, now in archaic or poetic style.

• kommen
• rennen

• gehts

• fahren

• gehen in Duden online