fehlen

From Middle High German vælen, velen, valen, from Old French faillir, from Latin fallō. Cognate with English fail.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeːlən/

• (Germany)

  (file)

• (Austria)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: feh‧len

fehlen (weak, third-person singular present fehlt, past tense fehlte, past participle gefehlt, auxiliary haben)

1. (with impersonal subject es, dative object and an) to lack

   Der Suppe fehlt es an Geschmack.

   The soup lacks flavor.

2. (with dative) to be absent from, to be missing from, to be lacking in

   Ich würde es kaufen, aber mir fehlt das Geld.

   I would buy it but I don't have the money.

3. (with dative) to be missed by

   Seit meinem Umzug fehlen mir meine Freunde.

   I've been missing my friends since I moved.

4. (with dative, regional) to feel ill, to feel unwell

   Fehlt dir etwas? - Nein, mir fehlt nichts, danke! ― Do you feel unwell? - No, I'm fine, thanks!

   Was fehlt ihr denn? ― What's wrong with her?

5. (intransitive) to be missing

   Das Gemälde fehlt an der Wand.

   The painting is missing from the wall.

6. (dated) to fail

• Note that the roles of subject and object are "reversed" from the English verbs that would be used to translate fehlen. For example:

Du fehlst mir. ― I miss you.

Ich fehle dir. ― You miss me.

• When a location is given, the preposition used gives the location where what is missing is supposed to be. For example

Das Kissen ist auf dem Bett. ― The pillow is on the bed.

Das Kissen fehlt auf dem Bett. ― The pillow is missing from the bed.

The preposition auf is used rather than aus or von.

• verfehlen

• Fehl
• Fehler

• → Kashubian: felowac

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

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