sagen

See also: Sagen, sägen, Sägen, and sågen

Danish

Noun

sagen c

  1. definite singular of sag

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Audio:(file)

Noun

sagen

  1. plural of sage

Anagrams

German

Etymology

From Middle High German sagen, from Old High German sagēn, from Proto-West Germanic *saggjan, from Proto-Germanic *sagjaną, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ-.

Compare Low German seggen, Dutch zeggen, English say, Danish sige, Swedish säga.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /zaːɡən/, /zaːɡŋ̩/ (Germany)
  • IPA(key): /saːɡɛn/, /saːɡŋ̩/, [-ɡ̥ɛn], [-ɡ̥ŋ̩] (Austria)
  • IPA(key): [sɑːʔŋ̩] (colloquial; southern Germany)
  • Rhymes: -aːɡn̩
  • Hyphenation: sa‧gen
  • Audio:(file)
  • Audio (Germany (Berlin)):(file)
  • Audio (Germany (Berlin)):(file)

Verb

sagen (weak, third-person singular present sagt, past tense sagte, past participle gesagt, auxiliary haben)

  1. (transitive) to say (to pronounce; communicate verbally)
    Ich habe nicht verstanden, was sie gesagt hat.
    I didn't understand what she said.
    etwas sagento say something, to speak up
    • 1931, Arthur Schnitzler, Flucht in die Finsternis, S. Fischer Verlag, page 105:
      Sie schwiegen lange. Als er endlich etwas sagen wollte, wehrte sie leise ab. „Heute nichts mehr, ich bitte dich darum“.
      They were silent for a long time. When he finally wanted to say something, she softly refused. “Nothing more today, I beg you for that.”
  2. (ditransitive) to tell (to inform (someone) verbally)
    Sie hat mir gesagt, dass sie später kommt.She told me that she would be late.
    1. (childish) to tell (to inform an authority)
      Schubs mich nicht oder ich sag's!Stop shoving me, or I'm telling!
      • 2002 February 17, Steffen H. Hillner, “last doch steffen "seinen" job machen”, in de.alt.flame[1] (Usenet):
        Jetzt hast du ja gegen die Netiquette verstoßen weil das nichts Neues war. Auweia das geh ich sagen.
        Now you violated netiquette because it wasn't anything new. Oh-oh, I'm gonna tell on you.
  3. (ditransitive) to mean, to ring a bell (to convey meaning or be familiar to someone)
    Das sagt mir nichts.That doesn't ring a bell for me.
    • 1951 November 1, Friedrich Sieburg, “Die Lust am Untergang”, in Die Zeit, number 44/1951:
      Ich habe keine Ahnung, worin die Aufgabe besteht, aber die Sprache sagt mir etwas.
      I have no idea what this task might be, but the phrasing sounds familiar to me.

Usage notes

In those inflected forms in which the stem sag- is not followed by a vowel, it is often pronounced: /zax/. This is due to dialectal influence and common throughout northern and central Germany. See the entries sag & sach, sagst, sagt, sagte, sagtest, sagten, sagtet, and gesagt.

Conjugation

  • 1st ps. sg. indicative present active also: sag', sag

Derived terms

Further reading

  • sagen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
  • sagen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
  • sagen” in Duden online
  • sagen” in OpenThesaurus.de

Japanese

Romanization

sagen

  1. Rōmaji transcription of さげん

Middle Dutch

Verb

sâgen

  1. first/third-person plural past indicative/subjunctive of sien

Middle High German

Etymology

Inherited from Old High German sagēn.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): (before 13th CE) /ˈs̠aɡən/

Verb

sagen (class 2 weak or class 1 weak, third-person singular present saget or seit, past tense sagete or seite, past participle gesaget or geseit, auxiliary hān)

  1. to say

Conjugation

Descendants

  • German: sagen

References

  • Benecke, Georg Friedrich; Müller, Wilhelm; Zarncke, Friedrich (1863), “sagen”, in Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch: mit Benutzung des Nachlasses von Benecke, Stuttgart: S. Hirzel

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

Noun

sagen m or f

  1. definite masculine singular of sag

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *saggjan, from Proto-Germanic *sagjaną, whence also Old Saxon seggian, Old English secgan, Old Norse segja. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ-.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈs̠aɡeːn]

Verb

sagēn

  1. to say

Conjugation

Derived terms

Descendants