rufen
to call someone out
Rufen (to call, to shout) is a strong verb whose present tense looks completely regular: ich rufe, du rufst, er ruft, wir rufen, ihr ruft, sie rufen. The irregularity appears only in the past forms. The simple past is rief and the past participle is gerufen, both built on a stem vowel you cannot predict from the infinitive. The perfect takes haben: ich habe laut gerufen (I called out loudly).
The meaning is narrower than English "to call". Rufen is about using your voice: shouting across a room, calling someone over, or calling for help. Um Hilfe rufen means to call for help, and nach jemandem rufen means to call out for someone.
For phoning, you need anrufen, which is separable. Ich rufe dich morgen an means "I will call you tomorrow", with the prefix moving to the end of the sentence. Using plain rufen here would suggest you plan to shout at the person, so this is a distinction worth getting right early.
Other prefixed forms include ausrufen (to exclaim or proclaim), aufrufen (to call up or summon), and zurückrufen (to call back). The related noun der Ruf means both a shout and a reputation, so einen guten Ruf haben means to have a good reputation.
Pronunciation: rufen has two syllables, [ˈruːfn̩]. The u is long, and the German r is made at the back of the throat rather than rolled with the tongue.
English
to call someone out
Perfekt
ich habe gerufen
Partizip II
gerufen
Auxiliary
rufen appears in the following vocabulary collections:
Ich rufe meinen Freund an.
I call my friend.
The separable verb sends the prefix to the end.
Er ruft laut nach seinem Hund.
He calls loudly for his dog.
The verb stays in position two.
Wir rufen die Kinder.
We call the children.
Direct object takes the accusative.
- What does rufen mean in German?
- Rufen means "to call" in the sense of shouting or calling out with your voice. It does not mean calling someone on the phone, which is anrufen.
- How do you conjugate rufen?
- The present tense is ich rufe, du rufst, er/sie/es ruft, wir rufen, ihr ruft, sie rufen. The present tense is fully regular, so the irregular forms only show up in the past.
- Is rufen regular or irregular?
- Rufen is a strong (irregular) verb. Its simple past is rief and its past participle is gerufen, neither of which follows the regular weak verb pattern.
- What is the difference between rufen and anrufen?
- Rufen means to call out loud with your voice. Anrufen means to telephone someone, and it is separable: ich rufe dich an (I am calling you).
- What does um Hilfe rufen mean?
- Um Hilfe rufen means "to call for help". The preposition um is fixed here, so the phrase should be learned as a unit rather than assembled word by word.