Entfallen

Entfallen is a German verb formed with the prefix ent- and the verb fallen. It conveys the idea that something has moved away, slipped out of place, or ceased to apply. The term covers several related uses, among them a memory-related sense and a sense of cancellation or omission of plans, rules, or events.

In the memory sense, entfallen is used with a dative pronoun to indicate who forgot or whose memory failed. The standard expressions are es ist mir entfallen or mir ist etwas entfallen, meaning that something has escaped one’s memory or that one forgot it. Examples include Der Name ist mir entfallen and Das Wort ist mir entfallen, both indicating a lapse of memory.

In the cancellation or omission sense, entfallen describes something that no longer applies, is not going ahead, or has fallen away. Common phrases are Der Termin ist entfallen and Der Plan ist entfallen, meaning that the appointment has been canceled or the plan has dropped out. In narrative past contexts, one may also encounter Der Plan entfiel.

Grammatically, entfallen forms with the auxiliary sein in the perfect tense: Der Termin ist entfallen. The simple past is entfiel, and the past participle is entfallen. The verb can be used impersonally, as in Es entfällt mir, to mean “it escapes me” in a general sense.

Etymology traces to ent- + fallen, reflecting the notion of something that has fallen away or slipped from memory or applicability. It is closely related to verbs like fallen, ausfallen, and vergessen, but entfallen emphasizes the sense of removal, omission, or memory lapse rather than mere occurrence.