wesen
German Low German
Alternative forms
- węsen, wäsen, wiäsen
- weasen (New Saxon Spelling)
Etymology
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
- 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
wesen (past singular weer, past participle wesen or west, auxiliary verb wesen)
- (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?
- (transitive, copulative) Used to connect a noun to an adjective that describes it.
- De Straat is breet.
- The street is broad.
- (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.
- (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.
- (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.
- (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.
- (intransitive, impersonal) Used to indicate weather, temperature or some other general condition.
- Dat is böös warm vundaag.
- It is very warm today.
- (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.
- (intransitive) To have the next turn in a game.
- Nu büst du.
- It is your turn now.
- (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
- 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
| 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
- sin, sien
- seyn, syn
See also
- Wesen
- wesentlich
Middle Dutch
Etymology
From Old Dutch wesan, from Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwɛːzən/
Verb
wēsen
- to be
- 1249, Schepenbrief van Bochoute, Velzeke, eastern Flanders:
- Si maken bekent die nu sien ende wesen selen
- They make known to those who are now and will be
- Synonym: sijn
-
Inflection
This verb needs an inflection-table template.
Descendants
- Dutch: wezen
- Afrikaans: wees
- Jersey Dutch: wêze
- Negerhollands: wees, wis
- Limburgish: waeze
Further reading
- “wesen (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
- “wesen (II)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
- Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “wesen (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page II
Middle Low German
Etymology
From Old Saxon wesan, from Proto-West Germanic *wesan, from Proto-Germanic *wesaną.
Pronunciation
- Stem vowel: ē²
- (originally) IPA(key): /wɪɛzən/
Verb
wēsen
- to be
Usage notes
- 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
| 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
- sîn
Descendants
- Dutch Low Saxon: waen
- German Low German: wesen, ween