lassen
to let, to allow
Lassen is one of the hardest German verbs to translate, because it covers three different jobs that English splits between separate words.
First, it means to let or allow: lass mich in Ruhe (leave me alone), lass uns gehen (let us go). Second, it means to leave something behind: ich habe meinen Schlüssel zu Hause gelassen (I left my key at home). Third, and least obvious to English speakers, it expresses having something done by someone else: ich lasse mir die Haare schneiden means "I am getting my hair cut", not that you are cutting it yourself. That causative use is extremely common in everyday German.
It is a strong verb with a vowel change in the du and er forms: ich lasse, du lässt, er lässt, wir lassen, ihr lasst, sie lassen. The simple past is ließ, written with the sharp s, and the past participle is gelassen. When a second verb is present, German uses a double infinitive instead of the participle: ich habe ihn gehen lassen (I let him go).
The prefixed forms are worth knowing separately, because their meanings drift. Verlassen means to leave a place or a person, as in sie hat die Stadt verlassen (she left the city). Zulassen means to permit or approve. Entlassen means to dismiss from a job or discharge from a hospital.
The participle gelassen also works as an adjective meaning calm or composed.
English
to let, to allow
Perfekt
ich habe gelassen
Partizip II
gelassen
Auxiliary
lassen appears in the following vocabulary collections:
Ich lasse das Fenster offen.
I leave the window open.
The verb is in position 2.
Lässt du die Tasche hier?
Are you leaving the bag here?
Yes/no questions start with the verb.
Wir lassen das Licht an.
We leave the light on.
Keep the subject before the verb in statements.
- What does lassen mean in German?
- Lassen has three main meanings: to let or allow, to leave something behind, and to have something done by someone else. Context decides which one applies.
- How do you conjugate lassen?
- The present tense is ich lasse, du lässt, er/sie/es lässt, wir lassen, ihr lasst, sie lassen. The du and er forms add an umlaut to the stem vowel.
- Is lassen regular or irregular?
- Lassen is a strong verb. Its simple past is ließ and its past participle is gelassen, and it changes its stem vowel in the present tense as well.
- What does ich lasse mir die Haare schneiden mean?
- It means "I am getting my hair cut", not that you cut it yourself. Lassen used this way shows that someone else performs the action for you, which German expresses with one verb where English needs "get" or "have".
- What is the difference between lassen and verlassen?
- Lassen means to leave something somewhere: ich lasse das Buch hier (I am leaving the book here). Verlassen means to leave a place or a person: er verlässt das Haus (he is leaving the house).