# treten
## German
### Etymology

From Middle High German trëten, from Old High German trëtan, from Proto-West Germanic *tredan, from Proto-Germanic *trudaną. Cognate with English tread.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈtʰʁ̥eːtn̩], [ˈtʰʁ̥eːtən], [ˈtʰʁ̥eːʔ̩n]
* Audio (Germany):(file)
* Audio (Austria):(file)
* Hyphenation: tre‧ten

### Verb

treten (class 5 strong, third-person singular present tritt, past tense trat, past participle getreten, past subjunctive träte, auxiliary haben or sein)
* (intransitive) to step, to walk (a short distance) [auxiliary sein]
    Bitte treten Sie hierher.Please step over here.
* (intransitive, figuratively) to appear [auxiliary sein]
    Als sie die Tragödie sah, traten ihr Tränen in die Augen.As she saw the tragedy, tears appeared in her eyes.
** 1919, Walther Kabel, Irrende Seelen, Werner Dietsch Verlag, page 107:Wieder begann mein Herz jetzt in rasenden Schlägen zu klopfen, wieder fühlte ich kalten Schweiß auf meine Stirn treten.Again my heart started now beating with racing beats, again I felt cold sweat appear on my brow.
* (intransitive, with certain phrases) to come into a state implied by a phrase
    in Kraft treten ― to come into effect
    an die Stelle treten ― to take the place
    in Erscheinung treten ― to appear (literally, “to come into appearance”)
    in den Hintergrund treten ― to become less important (literally, “to step into the background”)
    in den Ruhestand treten ― to retire (literally, “to come into retirement”)
    in Kontakt treten ― to get in touch (literally, “to come into contact”)
    auf den Plan treten ― to appear (literally, “to come onto the map”)
    an die Öffentlichkeit treten ― to go public (literally, “to come into the public”)
    in Aktion treten ― to become active, to take action
    zutage (zu Tage) treten ― to come to light (literally, “to come to day”)
* (transitive) to step; to tread; to trample [auxiliary haben]
    Wasser treten ― to tread water
* (transitive) to kick [auxiliary haben]
    Der Räuber schlug und trat sein Opfer.The robber beat and kicked his victim.
* (intransitive) to step; to tread [auxiliary sein]
* (intransitive) to step [with auf (+ accusative) ‘on(to) something’] [auxiliary sein]
* (intransitive) to pedal [auxiliary sein]

#### Conjugation

$^1$Rare except in very formal contexts; alternative in würde normally preferred.

#### Derived terms

* Treten, Treter, Tretung
* tretend, getreten
* betreten, vertreten

#### Related terms

* abtreten
* antreten
* auftreten
* austreten
* beitreten
* breittreten
* durchtreten
* eintreten
* herantreten
* hinzutreten
* in Kraft treten
* lostreten
* über die Ufer treten
* übertreten
* umtreten
* zurücktreten

### Further reading

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

## Middle High German
### Etymology

Inherited from Old High German trëtan, from Proto-West Germanic *tredan.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (before 13th CE) /ˈtrɛtən/

### Verb

trëten (class 5 strong, third-person singular present tritet, past tense trat, past participle getrëten, past subjunctive træte, auxiliary hān)
* to step, to walk, to tread

#### Descendants

* German: treten