wurde
German
Alternative forms
- ward (archaic)
- wurd (colloquial)
Etymology
Formed by analogy with the plural wurden, from Middle High German wurden (singular wart). The verbs of this class normally generalise the singular vowel; as in sterben etc. we should thus expect werden, ward, warden, geworden. These forms are attested, but the plural usually retained the u-form and this -u- tended to be generalised to the singular. A possible reason is the a-forms’ phonetic similarity to war, waren. The final -e in wurde is unetymological; it goes back to a development in Early Modern German where -e was added to strong past tenses (after the subjunctive and/or by hypercorrection; hence archaic sahe, fande for sah, fand). It may have survived here by analogy with the fellow auxiliary hatte.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈvʊʁdə/
Audio (file)
Verb
wurde
- first/third-person singular preterite of werden
Usage notes
- Until the earlier 20th century, wurde was seen as a correct, but less formal byform of ward. The latter has since become archaic, however.
Old English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwur.de/, [ˈwurˠ.de]
Verb
wurde
- inflection of weorþan:
- second-person subjunctive singular
- preterite subjunctive singular
West Frisian
Etymology
From Old Frisian wertha.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈvødə/, /ˈvørə/
Verb
wurde
- to become
- to be (used to form the passive voice)
- Ik waard sjoen.
- I was seen.
Inflection
| Strong class 3 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | wurde | |||
| 3rd singular past | waard | |||
| past participle | wurden | |||
| infinitive | wurde | |||
| long infinitive | wurden | |||
| gerund | wurden n | |||
| auxiliary | hawwe | |||
| indicative | present tense | past tense | ||
| 1st singular | wurd | waard | ||
| 2nd singular | wurdst | waardst | ||
| 3rd singular | wurdt | waard | ||
| plural | wurde | waarden | ||
| imperative | wurd | |||
| participles | wurdend | wurden | ||
Further reading
- “wurde (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011