The idea
Present tense: ich hebe, du hebst, er/sie/es hebt, wir heben, ihr hebt, sie/Sie heben. Learn the sentence pattern etwas heben together with the principal parts.
| Form | Deutsch |
|---|---|
| ich | hebe |
| du | hebst |
| er/sie/es | hebt |
| wir | heben |
| ihr | hebt |
| sie/Sie | heben |
| Präteritum | hob |
| Perfekt | hat gehoben |
| Imperativ (du) | Heb! |
| Muster | etwas heben |
Meaning and sentence pattern
Heben is transitive: a person raises an object. Steigen describes something rising without an external object.
Learn this pattern as a unit: etwas heben. The six situations below show the verb with concrete objects, complements or circumstances.
Form check
Ich habe gehebt.Ich habe gehoben.Heben is a strong verb: the stem vowel changes to o in hob and gehoben. Do not form a regular participle ending in t.
Examples
- Ich hebe die Kiste nur zusammen mit jemandem.I lift the box only together with someone else.
- Du hebst die Hand, wenn du eine Frage hast.You raise your hand when you have a question.
- Der Kran hebt das Bauteil über den Zaun.The crane lifts the component over the fence.
- Wir hoben den Teppich an einer Ecke an.We lifted the carpet at one corner.
- Sie hat den Deckel vorsichtig gehoben.She carefully lifted the lid.
- Heb das Blatt gegen das Licht.Hold the sheet up to the light.
Read-aloud uses a synthetic German voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.
No German device voice is available. You can still read the text and use the linked listening resources.
Watch out
Heben is a strong verb: the stem vowel changes to o in hob and gehoben. Do not form a regular participle ending in t.
Try it yourself
du ___ (heben, Präsens)
Show answer or example answer
hebst
hebst: this is the second-person singular present form.
er/sie ___ (heben, Präteritum)
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hob
hob: this is the third-person singular simple past.
Perfekt: er/sie hat ___
Show answer or example answer
gehoben
gehoben: in this use the perfect tense is hat gehoben.
Practice round
Answer three questions, then rebuild three German sentences. We keep your score.
du ___ (heben, Präsens)
er/sie ___ (heben, Präteritum)
Perfekt: er/sie hat ___
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
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Read the six situations aloud, compare the verb forms, and complete the present, past and participle checks. Then write a new sentence that follows etwas heben.