ziehst

Ziehst is the second-person singular present tense form of the German verb ziehen. The verb means to pull, drag, draw, or move something, and it also appears in many compound forms. The full present tense paradigm is: ich ziehe, du ziehst, er zieht, wir ziehen, ihr zieht, sie ziehen. The past participle is gezogen, used with haben to form the present perfect (e.g., ich habe gezogen). The simple past (preterite) for du is zogst, for er zog.

Usage and meanings

In everyday German, ziehen covers physical pulling (eine Kiste ziehen), drawing or pulling something toward oneself (eine Karte ziehen), and more abstract senses such as drawing a line or attracting interest (eine Grenze ziehen, jemanden anziehen). It also appears in separable-prefix verbs, where the prefix separates in main clauses: du ziehst dich um (you are changing clothes; umziehen), du ziehst dir eine Jacke an (you put on a jacket; anziehen). Other examples include der Hund zieht an der Leine (the dog pulls on the leash) and ich ziehe eine Karte (I draw a card).

Phrase examples

- Du ziehst eine schwere Last über den Boden. (You pull a heavy load across the floor.)

- Ich ziehe eine klare Grenze. (I draw a clear boundary.)

- Die Karte wird gezogen. (The card is drawn; in perfect form you could say: Die Karte ist gezogen.)

Notes

Ziehst forms are used with both literal pulling and figurative uses, and many common phrasal verbs build on ziehen with different prefixes. The verb is versatile across tense forms and spatial or figurative contexts, making du ziehst one of the most frequently encountered 2nd-person forms in German.