flieht

Flieht is a present-tense form of the German verb fliehen, meaning to flee or escape. It functions as the third-person singular form er flieht (he flees) and as the second-person plural form ihr flieht (you all flee). It also appears as the imperative Flieht! to command a group to flee.

Fliehen is an intransitive verb and does not take a direct object. It expresses moving away from danger, pursuit, or persecution. Common constructions include vor + dative to indicate what is being fled from (for example vor dem Krieg) and sometimes aus + dative to denote leaving a country or place. In sentences, flieht can pair with various adverbs or prepositional phrases to specify the direction or reason for fleeing. For example: Der Mann flieht vor der Verfolgung. Die Familie flieht in eine benachbarte Stadt.

In terms of tense, the present forms are fliehen-related, while the past is formed with ist geflohen in the perfect tense. The simple past (preterite) of fliehen is irregular and includes forms such as floh or flohen; the past participle is geflohen. The meaning remains the same across tenses: to escape from danger or to seek safety.

Etymology traces fliehen to the Germanic languages, with cognates in other related languages. The noun form Flucht, meaning flight or escape, derives from the same root and is commonly used to refer to the act or phenomenon of fleeing, as in political asylum, refugee contexts, or wartime evacuations.

See also: Flucht, Flüchtling, Fluchtweg.