See also: Bekommen

German

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Etymology

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From Middle High German bekomen, from Old High German biqueman, bikweman, from Proto-West Germanic *bikweman, from Proto-Germanic *bikwemaną, equivalent to be- +‎ kommen. Cognate to Dutch bekomen, English become.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /bəˈkɔmən/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Audio:(file)
  • Audio (Austria):(file)
  • Hyphenation: be‧kom‧men

Verb

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bekommen (class 4 strong, third-person singular present bekommt, past tense bekam, past participle bekommen, past subjunctive bekäme, auxiliary haben or sein)

  1. (transitive) to receive; to get [auxiliary haben]
    Synonym: kriegen
    Hunger bekommento get hungry, become hungry (literally, “to get hunger”)
    ein Kind bekommento have a child
    • 2003, Franz Eugen Schlachter, Die Bibel (“Schlachter 2000”), Genfer Bibelgesellschaft, Numbers 34:14:
      Denn der Stamm der Kinder Rubens mit ihren Vaterhäusern, und der Stamm der Kinder Gads mit ihren Vaterhäusern haben ihren Teil empfangen, auch der halbe Stamm Manasse hat seinen Teil bekommen.
      Then the tribe of Reuben’s children with the houses of their father, and the tribe of Gad’s children with the houses of their father have obtained their part, also half the tribe of Manasseh got their part.
    • 2022 November 24, Pia Frankenberg, “Hamburg-Hygge”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz[1], →ISSN:
      Erschöpft fand ich einen verbliebenen Normalobäcker mit ehrlichem Filterkaffee. „Ich bekomme …“, forderte der Boss-von-was-Wichtigem vor mir in der Schlange, und die nette Bedienung zuckte nicht mit der Wimper.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. (transitive) to catch [auxiliary haben]
    den Schnupfen bekommento catch a cold
  3. (intransitive) to agree with, to sit well with [with dative ‘someone’] (of food or drink) [auxiliary sein]
    Das Essen bekommt ihm nicht.
    The food does not agree with him.
  4. (auxiliary) to get (with the past participle form of a verb), forms the so-called dative passive [auxiliary haben]
    Das bekommt er ständig gesagt.He gets told that all the time.
    Wir haben sie ins Krankenhaus gebracht, wo sie einen Gips angelegt bekommen hat.
    We brought her to the hospital where she got a cast applied.
    Haben Sie jemals Antidepressiva verordnet bekommen?
    Have you ever been prescribed antidepressants?

Usage notes

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  • While become is a cognate, it is a false friend as it means something drastically different.

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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See also

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Further reading

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  • bekommen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • bekommen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • bekommen” in Duden online
  • bekommen” in OpenThesaurus.de

Swedish

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Participle

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bekommen

  1. past participle of bekomma

Adjective

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bekommen

  1. received, acquired

Declension

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Inflection of bekommen
Indefinite positive comparative superlative1
common singular bekommen
neuter singular bekommet
plural bekomna
masculine plural2 bekomne
Definite positive comparative superlative
masculine singular3 bekomne
all bekomna

1 The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
2 Dated or archaic.
3 Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.