beigehen

German

Etymology

From bei +‎ gehen, chiefly a calque of Low German bigahn.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbaɪ̯ˌɡeːən/, [ˈbaɪ̯ˌɡeː.ən], [-ˌɡeː.n̩], [-ˌɡeːn]
  • Audio (Germany (Berlin)):(file)

Verb

beigehen (class 7 strong, third-person singular present geht bei, past tense ging bei, past participle beigegangen, auxiliary sein)

  1. (Northern Germany, colloquial) synonym of drangehen
    Geh da bloß nicht bei!
    Don’t you touch that!
    • 1999, D. Gröning & H. Wehmeier, “Lieder für die Westkurve” (00:57:30 from the start), in Stenkelfeld 2000 – rüüührend![1]:
      Und bei diesem primitiven Krawall geh ich nich’ bei!
      And I want nothing to do with this barbaric rumpus!
      (Because of the following /p/ it is not quite clear whether the speaker says diesem or diesen.)

Usage notes

  • Most often construed with a pronominal adverb (da, wo, etc.). Construction with a noun has traditionally been with bei + accusative: Geh nicht bei die Dose bei! (Don’t you touch the box!) Since this is considered ungrammatical in Standard German, one also hears bei + dative (bei der Dose bei). Construction with a direct object (etwas beigehen), as claimed by DWDS, is uncommon or may in fact be a mistake. DWDS at any rate fails to provide an attestation of such usage.

Conjugation

Further reading

  • beigehen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache