anfangen

== German == === Etymology === From Middle High German anevāhen, from Old High German anafāhan, from Proto-West Germanic *anafą̄han. Equivalent to an- +‎ fangen. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈanˌfaŋən/, [ˈanˌfaŋən], [ˈanˌfaŋŋ̩] Hyphenation: an‧fan‧gen === Verb === anfangen (class 7 strong, third-person singular present fängt an, past tense fing an, past participle angefangen, auxiliary haben or (Northwest German colloquial) sein) (intransitive) to begin; to commence (intransitive) to start [with zu (+ infinitive) ‘doing something’] (intransitive) to begin, to start [with mit (+ dative) ‘something’] (intransitive) to start; to keep talking about [with von (+ dative) ‘a topic’] (transitive, colloquial) to begin something; to start something (transitive, colloquial) to put (something) to good use, to do [with accusative ‘something good, etc.’ and mit (+ dative) ‘with something’] ==== Usage notes ==== The normal auxiliary for this verb is haben: Ich habe angefangen (“I have begun”). The auxiliary sein is however used by some speakers in northwestern Germany in everyday speech: Ich bin angefangen. (Many of these speakers however use the standard forms in formal contexts in speech and writing.) Compare the same construction in Dutch beginnen (“to begin”): Ik ben begonnen. The construction of anfangen as a transitive verb (sense 5) is perfectly acceptable in spoken German, but would not be common in formal writing. ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Synonyms ==== beginnen (less frequent in common speech) starten (not always applicable) ==== Derived terms ==== Anfangen ==== Related terms ==== Anfang m Anfänger m anfänglich === References === === Further reading === “anfangen” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache “anfangen” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon “anfangen” in Duden online “anfangen” in OpenThesaurus.de == Swedish == === Noun === anfangen definite singular of anfang