Fangen

Fangen is a German verb meaning to catch, seize, or trap. It is used for catching animals or objects, capturing people, and in figurative sense for catching diseases or sensations (for example, sich eine Erkältung fangen). The verb also serves as the lexical base for many compounds and for the separable prefix verb anfangen (to begin).

Etymology and related forms. Fangen originates from Old High German fangan and is related to related Germanic forms such as Dutch vangen. It is a strong/irregular verb with stem changes in the present tense and a distinct past participle form.

Conjugation and grammar. Fangen is irregular. In the present tense: ich fange, du fängst, er fängt. In the imperfect (Präteritum): ich fing, du fingst, er fing. The past participle is gefangen, and the auxiliary verb used in perfect tenses is haben: ich habe den Ball gefangen. The second and third person singular forms require umlaut: fängst, fängt.

Usage notes and examples. Fangen governs physical catching as in Der Hund fängt den Ball (The dog catches the ball) or Wir fangen den Dieb (We caught the thief). It can describe catching illnesses or conditions: Er hat sich eine Erkältung gefangen (He caught a cold). It also appears in idiomatic expressions and compounds, including those formed with prefixes that modify meaning, such as anfangen (to begin), abfangen (to intercept), and auffangen (to catch/receive). In sentences, unterscheidet sich die Trennung: Wir fangen gleich an (We’re about to begin) shows the separable-prefix behavior of anfangen.

See also. Derivate and compounds commonly built with fangen include anfangen, abfangen, auffangen, and auffangen, illustrating how the base verb integrates into a family of related meanings.