verb
to stink, to smell bad
B1
stinken is an irregular strong verb meaning 'to stink' or 'to smell bad'. Auxiliary is haben; past participle 'gestunken', Präteritum stem 'stank'. Common pattern: 'es stinkt nach ...' (it smells of...), using 'nach' + dative. Non-reflexive. Irregular vowel change important in past forms.
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.EXAMPLES
Der Käse stinkt, aber viele Leute finden ihn trotzdem lecker.
The cheese smells bad, but many people still enjoy it.
Das Essen hat gestunken.
The food smelled awful.
Das Essen stank so stark, dass viele Gäste das Fenster öffneten.
The food smelled so bad that many guests opened the window.
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.DETAILS_LABEL
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.MNEMONICS
picture a green cloud rising from garbage to remind you of a bad smell
sounds like 'stink in' — imagine something stinking inside a room
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.NOTES
stinken is a strong (irregular) verb: präteritum 'stank', participle II 'gestunken'. It uses the auxiliary 'haben' in compound tenses. | Intransitive verb; passive forms are not applicable.