Ways to say it
| German | IPA |
|---|---|
| sich verspäten | |
| vertagen | [fɛʁˈtaːɡən] (narrow) [-ɡŋ̩] (narrow) |
| verzögern | [fɛɐ̯ˈt͜søːɡɐn] (narrow) |
| zögern | /ˈtsøːɡərn/ |
In German, the word you choose for 'delay' depends on whether you are talking about a person being late, a process being slowed down or a formal meeting being postponed. If you are referring to the act of delaying something or a period of time before an event occurs, you can use the nouns Verzögerung or Verspätung. Specifically, Verspätung is the standard term for transport delays, such as a train being late.
Which one should you use?
The different German forms are used in distinct situations. Use verzögern when an external factor, such as weather or traffic, causes a process or movement to take longer than expected. Use vertagen specifically for postponing formal proceedings like a trial, a parliamentary session or a meeting to a later date. Use zögern when a delay is caused by a person's own indecision or reluctance to act.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The verb sich verspäten is reflexive, which means you must use a reflexive pronoun such as mich, dich or sich within the sentence.
What mistakes should you avoid?
Avoid using verzögern when you actually mean 'to hesitate' (zögern) or 'to be late' (sich verspäten).
Did you know?
- In German, the act of hesitating zögern is linguistically rooted in the same family as ziehen meaning 'to pull'.
Examples in context
- Das wird meine Reise um einiges verzögern.This'll delay my trip a long time.This sentence shows how a certain factor can delay a trip using verzögern.Tatoeba #2351758 by Pfirsichbaeumchen, translation #2259723 by _undertoad
- Aufgrund des schlechten Wetters mussten wir unsere Abreise verzögern.We had to delay our departure because of the bad weather.This sentence describes how bad weather forced a departure to be delayed using verzögern.Tatoeba #9606607 by Yorwba, translation #10534734 by sundown
- Ihr Zug hat eine Verspätung von zehn Minuten.Your train is delayed by ten minutes.
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Sources
- Wiktionary, “delay” translations and entries vertagen, verzögern, zögern, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries sich, verspäten, vertagen, verzögern, zögern, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
