fehlst

fehlst is the second-person singular present indicative form of the German verb fehlen, meaning to be missing or to lack. In German, fehlen is an intransitive verb in which the thing that is missing is typically the grammatical subject, while the person who experiences the lack is in the dative.

The verb is used to describe a lack or absence of something in a given situation. For example, Geld fehlt mir means I lack money, or money is missing to me. In the sentence Du fehlst mir, you are the subject and mir is the dative recipient, expressing the idea “I miss you.” Another common construction is Es fehlt mir an etwas, which emphasizes a deficiency: Es fehlt mir an Geduld means I lack patience.

Present tense conjugation in the indicative mood is: ich fehle, du fehlst, er fehlt, wir fehlen, ihr fehlt, sie fehlen. The polite form is Sie fehlen. The perfect tense is formed with the auxiliary haben: Mir hat Geld gefehlt or Das Buch hat mir gefehlt, meaning I missed the money or I missed the book. The verb can also appear in other tenses and moods, producing variations such as Es hat mir an Zeit gefehlt.

Common phrases and usage notes include duplicating the subject to emphasize the missing thing (Geld fehlt mir), shifting word order for emphasis (Mir fehlt Geld), and using the construction an + dative noun to express lack (Es fehlt mir an Zeit). Semantically related verbs include mangeln and fehlen in other contexts, but fehlen specifically centers on absence or insufficiency from the perspective of the experiencer.