German

Verb

stehlen ‎(class 4 strong, third-person singular simple present stiehlt, past tense stahl, past participle gestohlen, auxiliary haben)

1. (transitive or intransitive) to steal
2. (reflexive) to skulk, to move secretly

Conjugation

Usage notes

• The person from whom the thing is stolen is given in the dative case. Thus, “Er hat mir ein Buch gestohlen” means: “He stole a book from me.” This is quite contrary to English usage, where “He stole me a book” would be the equivalent of German: “Er hat ein Buch für mich gestohlen.” The person for whom the thing is stolen must be expressed as an object of "für".
• An exception to this, however, is a reflexive dative, which will have the same sense as in English: “Er hat sich ein Buch gestohlen” means: “He stole himself a book.” This exception is implied by logic, since one cannot steal from oneself.

Synonyms

• rauben
• entwenden
• klauen
• abstauben
• stibitzen
• mitgehen lassen
• fladern
• mopsen
• lange Finger machen

Derived terms

• bestehlen
• davonstehlen

Related terms

• verstohlen

Low German

Etymology

From Old Saxon stelan, from Proto-Germanic *stelaną.

Verb

stehlen ‎(third-person singular simple present stehlt, past tense stohl, past participle stahlen, auxiliary verb hebben)

1. (transitive or intransitive) to steal
2. (reflexive) to skulk, to move secretly

Usage notes

As in High German, the person from whom the thing is stolen is given in the oblique case. Thus, “He hett mi en Book stahlen” means: “He stole a book from me.” This is quite contrary to English usage, where “He stole me a book” would be the equivalent of Low German: “He hett en Book för mi stahlen.”

Conjugation

Synonyms

• roven