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GERMAN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

schaffen.

to create, to call into being

8 characters2 syllables approx.Deutsch language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˈʃafən/[ˈʃa.fɱ̍][-fn̩][-fən]
  1. to create, to call into being

    class-6 · strong · transitive · usually
    Warum hat Gott die Welt geschaffen?
  2. to create, make, form, shape

    class-6 · strong · transitive · usually
    Wer schuf die Mona Lisa?
  3. to create, produce, bring about, establish

    broadly · class-6 · strong · transitive · usually
    Durch diese Maßnahmen haben wir die Voraussetzungen für weitere Fortschritte geschaffen.
Where this word comes from

From Middle High German schaffen (strong verb), from Old High German scafan, scaffen, byform of skephen, from Proto-West Germanic *skappjan. The form with -f- was chiefly backformed from the past participle giscaffan, but was also influenced by the regular present conjugations du skeffis, er skeffit, and by the weak verb in etymology 2 below. The form skephen survives in the (now archaic) variant schöpfen. Cognate with Dutch scheppen, English shape.

verb/ˈʃafən/[ˈʃa.fɱ̍][-fn̩][-fən]
  1. to get done, to accomplish, achieve, to succeed with

    transitive · usually · weak
    Wir haben heute wieder viel geschafft.
    Sie hat die Prüfung geschafft.
  2. to manage, to make it

    transitive · usually · weak
    Kannst du es um 9 Uhr schaffen?
    Du hast es geschafft!
  3. to get, take, carry (something somewhere)

    transitive · usually · weak
    Er schaffte die Kisten in den Keller.
    ein Missverständnis aus der Welt schaffen
  4. to do, to busy oneself

    transitive · usually · weak
    Du hast hier nichts zu schaffen!
    Die alte Geschichte macht mir noch zu schaffen.
  5. to work

    Austria · Southern-Germany · Switzerland · intransitive · transitive · usually · weak
    Ich schaffe in einer Fabrik.
    Schaffe, schaffe, Häusle baue.
Where this word comes from

From Middle High German schaffen (weak verb), from Old High German skaffōn, from Proto-West Germanic *skapōn, from the same root as etymology 1 above. The semantic distinction between both conjugations only established itself clearly in Modern German.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.