erzählen

German

Etymology

er- + zählen

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɛɐ̯ˈt͡sɛːlən/
  • Hyphenation: er‧zäh‧len
  • (file)
  • (file)

Verb

erzählen (third-person singular simple present erzählt, past tense erzählte, past participle erzählt, auxiliary haben)

  1. to tell; to narrate; to tell a story
    Erzähl mir ein Märchen.
    Tell me a fairytale.
    Erzähl mir von deiner Kindheit.
    Tell me about your childhood.
  2. (somewhat informal, perhaps regional) to talk a lot; to tell nonsense; to gabble
    Wir haben den ganzen Nachmittag erzählt.
    We talked the whole afternoon.
    Der erzählt hier wieder einen! (strong stress on “erzählen”)
    This guy’s talking some [bullshit] again today!

Conjugation

Further reading

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