stoßen

Stoßen is a German verb with several related meanings centered on contact and force. The primary sense is to push or shove something or someone with physical force. It can also mean to collide with another object or person, as in two cars that crash or people who bump into one another. In addition, stoßen appears in fixed expressions such as auf etwas stoßen, meaning to come across or encounter, and in separable-prefix forms like anstoßen (to toast with glasses) or zusammenstoßen (to collide).

Etymology and classification:

The verb comes from Old High German stossen and is cognate with Dutch stoten. It is a strong/mixed verb that shows a vowel change in the present tense: ich stoße, du stößt, er stößt; Präteritum stieß; Partizip Perfekt gestoßen. The perfect is formed with haben when the verb takes a direct object (er hat mich gestoßen), and with sein when referring to a movement or collision (sie sind zusammengestoßen).

Conjugation and usage:

In separable-prefix forms, angestoßen means to toast; you would say Wir haben angestoßen, or Wir stoßen mit den Gläsern an. Zusammenstoßen is used for a collision, and its participle is zusammengestoßen (Sie sind zusammengestoßen). The base form stoßen governs common phrases such as Ich stoße gegen die Wand (I push against the wall) or Wir stießen ihm versehentlich mit dem Ellbogen (We accidentally bumped him with the elbow).

Noun forms:

Der Stoß means a push or shove, and also a shock or impulse in physics (Stoßwelle). The related noun Anstoß denotes a kickoff in sports or a social impulse to start something (der Anstoß).