verb
to guess, to advise
A2
Raten: means 'to guess' or 'to advise'. It's a strong (irregular) verb: present stem vowel a→ä in du/er (du rätst, er rät); past stem riet, participle geraten. Uses both auxiliaries: haben for giving advice (ich habe dir geraten), sein for intransitive 'to get into' (in Schwierigkeiten geraten). Not reflexive.
Examples
Ich rate dir, mehr Wasser zu trinken.
I advise you to drink more water.
Die Ärztin riet dem Patienten, weniger zu arbeiten, weil die Blutwerte besorgniserregend gewesen waren.
The doctor advised the patient to work less because the blood values had been concerning.
Ich rate, dass er zu Hause ist.
I guess he's at home.
Details
Mnemonics
Picture someone with a question mark over their head while another person points and speaks (giving advice or making a guess).
Sounds like the English word 'rate' — imagine guessing a price or rating, which helps recall the 'guess' sense.
Notes
Raten has two common senses: 'to guess' and 'to advise'. It typically takes a dative object when meaning 'to advise' (jemandem raten). The verb is irregular: present tense has a stem-vowel change (du rätst, er rät) and the past stem is riet-. The past participle is geraten. Depending on sense, the perfect can use haben (hat geraten) for the transitive/advice sense, but sein is used with the intransitive meaning 'to get into' (z. B. in Schwierigkeiten geraten → ist geraten).