Ziehe

Ziehe is the first-person singular present indicative form of the German verb ziehen, meaning to pull, draw, or move. It appears in sentences without an explicit subject as the ich-form: Ich ziehe den Wagen. Ziehen spans a range of senses, including physical pulling (e.g., den Wagen ziehen), drawing or pulling objects toward oneself, moving to a new location (Wir ziehen heute weiter; Wir sind nach Berlin gezogen), drawing a card (eine Karte ziehen), and figurative uses such as attracting or drawing interest.

Etymology and cognates

Ziehen comes from Middle High German zihen or ziehēn, Old High German zīhôn, with roots in the Proto-Germanic verb *teuhaną. The sense of pulling or dragging is preserved across Germanic languages, and related nouns such as der Zug (pull, movement) and der Zug (train) reflect the same root.

Usage and grammar

Ziehen is a strong, irregular verb with vowel changes in some forms: ich ziehe, du ziehst, er zieht, wir ziehen, ihr zieht, sie ziehen. The past participle is gezogen, used with haben for most perfect tenses (Ich habe den Wagen gezogen) and with sein when expressing movement between places (Wir sind nach Köln gezogen). Subjunctive forms appear in Konjunktiv I (ich ziehe, du ziehest, er ziehe, etc.) and Konjunktiv II (ich zöge). The verb forms a wide range of phrases, from literal movement to idiomatic expressions like ziehen: jemanden anziehen (to attract someone) or etwas in Erwägung ziehen (to consider something).

See also

Related terms include der Zug (pull; movement) and der Zug (train), both derived from the same root. Ziehen appears in many German constructions for physical action, relocation, and metaphorical sense-making.