German Waiting & Staying Vocabulary
This set covers the German words for waiting and staying put, from the basic warten and bleiben up to the more literary verweilen and weilen. One thing that trips up English speakers: sitzen and setzen look like the same verb with a spelling change, but they're not interchangeable the way 'sit' can be in English. Sitzen describes the state of sitting, setzen describes the act of placing yourself or something down, and mixing them up is one of the most common mistakes at this level.
Learn these 15 words
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All 15 words
- bleibenA1
to stay, remain
Ich bleibe heute zu Hause. — I'm staying at home today.
- haltenA1
hold, stop
Dieser Zug hält nicht in Rüdesheim. — This train doesn't stop in Rüdesheim.
- sitzenA1
to sit
Wo sitzen Sie? — Where are you sitting?
- stehenA1
stand
Ich glaube es nicht, aber es steht in der Zeitung. — I don't believe it, but it's in the newspaper.
- wartenA1
wait
Können Sie ein paar Minuten warten? — Can you wait a few minutes?
- hinlegenA2
to lie down
Ich muss mich kurz hinlegen. — I need to lie down for a moment.
- setzenA2
sit, place
Setz dich doch! — Sit down!
plural: die Warteschlangen
queue, line
Vor dem Kino war eine lange Warteschlange. — There was a long queue in front of the cinema.
plural: die Wartezeiten
waiting time
Die Wartezeit beim Arzt war lang. — The waiting time at the doctor's was long.
plural: die Wartezimmer
waiting room
Bitte nehmen Sie im Wartezimmer Platz. — Please take a seat in the waiting room.
plural: die Aufenthalte
stay, sojourn
Der Aufenthalt in Berlin war kurz. — The stay in Berlin was short.
stop, delay
Wo hält er sich gerade auf? – In München. — Where is he currently staying?
to linger
Er verweilt gerne in der Natur. — He likes to linger in nature.
- harrenC1
to await (wenig benutzt)
Wir harren auf bessere Zeiten. — We await better times.
to remain / stay / pause
Sie verharrt reglos vor dem Gemälde. — She remains motionless before the painting.
How to learn this set
Notice that aufhalten and verharren both build on halten, so once you know halten means 'to hold,' the prefixes do the rest: auf- adds the sense of stopping or delaying something, ver- shifts it toward staying fixed in place. Drill sitzen/setzen/stehen together as a trio with their reflexive forms, since the reflexive (sich setzen) is what marks the action verb apart from the state verb. For the three near-synonyms at the top of the level range, harren, verharren, and weilen, don't try to memorize fine shades of meaning; instead learn one example sentence for each so you recognize them in a text, since native speakers themselves rarely produce harren or weilen in conversation.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between sitzen, setzen, and stehen in German?
Sitzen means to sit (a state, like 'ich sitze'), setzen means to set/place something or yourself down (an action, 'ich setze mich'), and stehen means to stand. English often uses 'sit' for both the state and the action, but German keeps them separate: use setzen when someone moves into a sitting position, sitzen once they're already there.
Is das Wartezimmer only used for doctors?
Mostly yes. Das Wartezimmer is the standard word for a doctor's or dentist's waiting room. For other waiting areas, like at a train station, German usually just says Warteraum or Wartebereich instead.
What's the difference between bleiben and verweilen?
Bleiben is the everyday word for 'to stay' and covers almost every situation, from staying home to staying calm. Verweilen is more literary or formal, closer to 'to linger,' and you'll see it in travel writing or older texts rather than in casual speech.
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