bereut

Bereut is the third-person singular present tense form of the German verb bereuen, which means to regret or to repent. It is used when the subject is he, she, or it and the act of regretting is taking place in the present. For example: Er bereut seine Entscheidung.

Bereuen is a verb that forms its other present-tense forms as follows: ich bereue, du bereust, wir bereuen, ihr bereut, Sie bereuen; the infinitive is bereuen. The verb also has a regular past tense pattern: imperfect (Präteritum) forms include er bereute, wir bereuten, ihr bereutet, sie bereuten. The present perfect is formed with haben: er hat bereut. The past participle is bereut, which can be identical in spelling to the present 3rd-person form.

Usage notes: Bereut is commonly used with direct objects or clauses to express regret about actions or decisions. Examples include Er bereute seine Entscheidung or Er bereute, was er getan hat. It can also appear with dass-clauses to relate the source of regret, as in Er bereut, dass er gelogen hat. The verb expresses personal, often moral, regret about outcomes or behavior and is frequently contrasted with synonyms such as bedauern or the noun Reue.

Related terms: bedauern is a closely related verb with a broader sense of regret, and Reue is the noun form meaning “regret” or “remorse.” In contemporary usage, bereuen tends to convey a straightforward personal regret about specific acts.

Etymology: bereuen comes from a Germanic heritage and is a standard part of modern German, used across informal and formal registers to express regret about past actions or consequences.