stattfinden

Stattfinden is a German intransitive verb meaning to take place or to occur. It is used to describe events such as meetings, performances, exhibitions, or conferences that happen at a particular time and place. The subject of the sentence is usually the event, while a time expression specifies when it happens. The phrase is common in schedules, announcements, and news reports.

Conjugation and usage. The verb behaves like other finden-family verbs in the present, past, and future, with the time element placed after the verb: Es findet statt. Die Veranstaltung findet heute statt. In the simple past the form is fand statt: Die Sitzung fand gestern statt. The perfect tense uses hat stattgefunden: Die Ausstellung hat letzte Woche stattgefunden. Future tense is typically built with werden: Die Konferenz wird nächste Woche stattfinden. The expression can also appear with the Konjunktiv to discuss hypothetical timing: Es würde stattfinden, wenn der Raum frei wäre.

Notes on nuance and synonyms. Stattfinden is relatively formal and widely used in official or formal contexts, such as calendars, press releases, and event planning. Synonyms include passieren or geschehen, but these are less appropriate for scheduled events and carry a more general or informal nuance. The phrase can be negated or used with adverbs of time to indicate whether something will or did occur.

Etymology. The compound of statt and finden conveys the sense of something being found in a place or occurring at a given place and time, which in German has come to mean to take place or occur.