Gelingen

Gelingen is a German verb meaning to succeed or come off. It is used mainly in impersonal constructions with the dummy subject es, and the person for whom the action succeeds is expressed in the dative (mir, dir, ihm, uns, euch, ihnen).

In the present tense the common form is es gelingt, often followed by a dative experiencer and a following infinitive clause, as in Es gelingt mir, rechtzeitig anzukommen. The zu-infinitive indicates the action that is being made to succeed. The construction is flexible and can be expanded with longer clauses: Es gelingt mir, das Projekt rechtzeitig abzuschließen.

The past tense is formed with sein: Es ist mir gelungen, …; the related noun das Gelingen denotes the success or accomplishment of an action or project, as in Das Gelingen des Plans war wichtig.

Usage and nuance: gelingen emphasizes a successful outcome or feasibility of a task. It appears in both everyday speech and formal writing and can be negated, for example: Es gelingt mir nicht, pünktlich zu kommen.

Related terms include Misslingen (to fail) and synonyms such as schaffen or zustande bringen, which convey similar ideas of achieving a task, though with varying nuance and emphasis.