streifen
German
Etymology
From Middle High German streifen, from Old High German *streifen (in abastreifen > modern abstreifen), from Proto-Germanic *straipijaną, *stripōną (“to touch”), of uncertain ultimate origin, possibly Proto-Indo-European *ster-, *strē- (“strip, streak”), see also Lithuanian strėlė (“arrow, dart, jib”), Latvian strēle (“arrow, dart”), Proto-Slavic *strěla (“arrow”).[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈʃtʁaɪ̯fən/, [ˈʃtʁaɪ̯fn̩]
Audio (file) - Hyphenation: strei‧fen
Verb
streifen (weak, third-person singular present streift, past tense streifte, past participle gestreift, auxiliary haben)
- [auxiliary haben] to brush, to graze, to stroke
- Zum Glück hat ihn der Schuss nur gestreift.
- Luckily the shot only grazed him.
- Ich streifte den Mann aus Versehen.
- I brushed against the man by mistake.
- [auxiliary sein] to wander, to roam
- Sie streifte stundenlang durch die Wälder.
- She roamed the woods for hours.
Conjugation
As indicated in the table below, the verb is originally a weak verb and is exclusively weak in the standard language. However, in colloquial German the irregular past participle gestriffen may be heard.
infinitive | streifen | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
present participle | streifend | ||||
past participle | gestreift | ||||
auxiliary | haben | ||||
indicative | subjunctive | ||||
singular | plural | singular | plural | ||
present | ich streife | wir streifen | i | ich streife | wir streifen |
du streifst | ihr streift | du streifest | ihr streifet | ||
er streift | sie streifen | er streife | sie streifen | ||
preterite | ich streifte | wir streiften | ii | ich streifte1 | wir streiften1 |
du streiftest | ihr streiftet | du streiftest1 | ihr streiftet1 | ||
er streifte | sie streiften | er streifte1 | sie streiften1 | ||
imperative | streif (du) streife (du) |
streift (ihr) |
1Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.
References
- Pokorny, Julius (1959) “1028-29”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 3, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, pages 1028-29