wehtun
The German verb for 'to hurt' is wehtun.
wehtun is used to express the action of causing physical pain or injury. While it can be written as two words, weh tun, the single-word form wehtun is more common in modern German.
Meaning: to cause physical pain and/or injury (verb)
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
wehtun is a separable verb. In a simple main clause, the prefix weh moves to the end of the sentence, such as in Es tut weh (It hurts). The past participle of the verb is wehgetan, and when forming the perfect tense, you use the auxiliary verb haben, for example Es hat wehgetan (It has hurt).
Did you know?
- In German, you do not say 'my arm hurts' using a subject-verb structure, but rather use the dative case to say the arm 'does woe' to you, as in Mein Arm tut mir weh.
- The word weh is related to the English word 'woe', making wehtun a literal sibling of the concept of 'doing woe'.
- The word weh survives in the common exclamation Weh mir!, which is an archaic way of saying 'Woe is me!'
Examples in context
- Es wird nicht wehtun.It won't hurt.Tatoeba #1524651 by al_ex_an_der, translation #627050 by CK
- Tom kann mir nicht wehtun.Tom can't hurt me.Tatoeba #8661865 by Melang, translation #1868431 by CK
- Ich möchte niemandem wehtun.I don't want to hurt anyone.Tatoeba #2074304 by Espi, translation #1887280 by CK
- Ich habe mich verletzt.I am hurt/I injured myself.
- Seine herablassenden Worte haben mich tief verletzt.His condescending words hurt me deeply.
- Der Unfall hat viele Menschen verletzt.The accident hurt many people.
- Mein Arm schmerzt.My arm hurts.
- Der Verlust eines geliebten Menschen kann sehr schmerzen.Losing a loved one can hurt a lot.
- Die Worte des Kritikers haben ihn tief in seinem Inneren geschmerzt.The critic's words hurt him deeply inside.
- Mir tut der Kopf weh.My head hurts.
- Es tut mir so weh, dass du so über mich denkst.It hurts me so much that you think that way about me.
- Die Ablehnung durch ihre Freunde hat sie tief getroffen und tut noch immer weh.The rejection from her friends hurt her deeply, and it still hurts.
- Seine Worte haben mich wirklich gekränkt.His words really hurt/offended me.
- Es kränkt ihn sehr, dass niemand seine Leistung anerkennt.It hurts him a lot that nobody recognizes his achievements.
- Ich hoffe, dich mit meinen Worten nicht zu kränken.I hope not to hurt/offend you with my words.
- 15 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Sarah is checking a small cut on Lukas's finger.
- SarahTut das noch wehtun?Does that still hurt?
- LukasJa, es tut ein bisschen wehtun.Yes, it hurts a little bit.
- SarahIch muss es vorsichtig reinigen.I have to clean it carefully.
- LukasBitte pass auf, dass es nicht wehtun wird.Please be careful so that it doesn't hurt.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
