leidet

Leidet is the third-person singular present tense form of the German verb leiden, which means to suffer, endure pain or hardship. The form is used to describe someone who is currently experiencing distress or difficulty.

Usage and meaning

Leiden expresses various kinds of suffering, from physical pain and illness to emotional or social hardship. It is commonly paired with the prepositions unter and an: Er leidet unter chronischen Schmerzen. Sie leidet an einer schweren Erkrankung. It can also refer to general hardship or adverse conditions, as in Viele Menschen leiden unter Stress oder Ungerechtigkeit. The expression Es tut mir leid, meaning “I’m sorry,” uses the noun Leid in a fixed phrase.

Conjugation and forms

In present tense: ich leide, du leidest, er leidet, wir leiden, ihr leidet, sie leiden. In the simple past (Präteritum): ich litt, du littest, er litt, wir litten, ihr littet, sie litten. The past participle is gelitten, and the perfect tense is formed with haben: er hat gelitten. Subjunctive forms exist for reported speech and hypothetical situations.

Etymology and related terms

Leiden belongs to the core German verbs with irregular past forms; the related noun Leid means suffering (das Leid). The phrase Es tut mir leid is a common apology, literally “it does pain to me,” and uses the noun Leid.

See also

The noun related form das Leid (suffering) and the common idiom Es tut mir leid. The verb is distinct from the city name Leiden in Dutch, which appears in German texts as a proper noun in some contexts.