verb
to meet, to hit
A1
treffen: strong irregular verb meaning “to meet” and “to hit.” Auxiliary verb: haben. Past participle getroffen; present stem change e → i (du triffst, er trifft). Not separable. Can be used reflexively (sich treffen) to mean meet each other. Context determines whether it means meet someone or strike/hit.
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.EXAMPLES
Maria hat gestern ihre Freunde getroffen.
Maria met her friends yesterday.
Er traf eine wichtige Entscheidung.
He made an important decision.
Die Kollegen trafen sich im Café, weil sie über das Projekt sprechen wollten.
The colleagues met in the café because they wanted to talk about the project.
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.DETAILS_LABEL
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.MNEMONICS
two people 'tr' (tri-) lines crossing — imagine them meeting at a cross
sounds like 'traffic' (imagine meeting someone in traffic)
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.NOTES
Commonly used both for planned meetings and chance encounters. In contexts meaning 'hit', it's used for physical or figurative impacts. Konjunktiv I Präteritum forms are not applicable / not used in modern German, therefore marked as not applicable in the conjugation table.