lautet

Lautet is the third-person singular present tense form of the German verb lauten. The verb means to be worded, to read as, or to sound like, and is used to present the exact wording of a name, title, rule, or designation. In practice, it is often used in formal or written contexts to report how something is officially stated. Examples include Der Name lautet Schmidt. Wie lautet der Titel des Dokuments? Die Überschrift lautet: Neue Regelungen.

Lauten is commonly preferred over gleichwertige verbs when the emphasis is on the exact wording rather than on what something is called in everyday speech. It contrasts with heißen, which more directly denotes “to be called” in terms of identification rather than the precise phrasing. Lauten is frequent in announcements, legal texts, catalogs, press releases, and newspaper reporting when the author wants to convey the precise wording.

Grammatical notes: The form lautet is used for the present tense with he/she/it. The simple past is lautete, and the perfect is rarely used in ordinary speech, typically rendered with the simple past or, in some contexts, hat gelautet, though the latter is uncommon in everyday language. In questions, one frequently encounters Wie lautet…? or Wie lautet der Name? to solicit the exact wording.

Etymology: The verb lauten is linked to the noun Laut (sound, noise) and historically meant to have a certain sound or wording. In modern German, its meaning centers on the written or spoken phrasing rather than on identity alone.

See also: heißen, Wortlaut, Formulierung.