verb
to climb, to increase, to rise
B1
To climb; to increase; to rise. A strong, intransitive verb using sein in perfect: 'bin gestiegen'. Not separable or reflexive. Irregular vowel change: Präteritum 'stieg' and Partizip II 'gestiegen'. Used for people climbing or rates rising. Commonly. Imperative singular: 'Steig!'
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.EXAMPLES
Nach dem starken Regen steigt der Pegel des Flusses.
After the heavy rain the river level is rising.
Ich steige in den Bus.
I'm getting on the bus.
Er ist auf den Berg gestiegen.
He climbed the mountain.
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.DETAILS_LABEL
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.MNEMONICS
Imagine stairs (Steig) going up — each step 'steigt' you higher
sounds a little like English 'staying' but imagine moving up instead of staying
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.NOTES
In German, steigen often takes sein as auxiliary in perfect tenses (ist gestiegen). It is intransitive in the sense of moving upward; for 'to increase' in a transitive sense use steigern. Because steigen is normally intransitive and forms its perfect with 'sein', a normal Vorgangspassiv (process passive) is generally not used; passive-like or impersonal constructions are possible in restricted contexts but full personal passive paradigms are misleading and therefore not provided here. | Intransitive verb; passive forms are not applicable.