Before you start
Meet vorgehen
Read how the verb is used, then write your own 10 sentences with it.
All 7 meanings
- to walk to the front (of a room or area)
- (informal) to go on ahead (in contrast to someone else temporarily staying behind)
- to take precedence, to have a higher priority (e.g. of ideals)
- to go about a problem, to approach an issue (in a certain way, according to a specific strategy or guideline)
- to crack down on, to take steps [with gegen (+ accusative) ‘against something’]
- to be going on, to be happening (in an internal or hidden location or situation)
Build the meaning
vor- + gehen
- vor-
- ahead or in front
- gehen
- to go
Going ahead is moving in front or making progress.
So vorgehen means to go ahead or proceed; of a clock, to run fast.
A memory aid, not a rule: prefixes change meaning from verb to verb.
Learning approach inspired by this explanation in r/German.
Separable verb: vor·gehen
In a main clause the prefix vor splits off and goes to the end. After weil, dass and other subordinating words, the verb stays in one piece at the end.
Main clauseBitte gehe zuerst vor.Please go ahead first.
Subordinate clauseWir warten, weil die Polizei vorgeht.We’re waiting because the police are taking action.
Participle: vorgegangenzu-infinitive: vorzugehen
Forms
How vorgehen changes
| Pronoun | Präsens | Präteritum |
|---|---|---|
| ich | gehe vor | ging vor |
| du | gehst vor | gingst vor |
| er/sie/es | geht vor | ging vor |
| wir | gehen vor | gingen vor |
| ihr | geht vor | gingt vor |
| Sie | gehen vor | gingen vor |
Partizip II vorgegangen · Perfekt with sein
Three examples
- 1Ich gehe heute langsam vor.I’m proceeding slowly today.present, prefix at the end
- 2Sie ist ohne uns vorgegangen.She went ahead without us.Perfekt with sein
- 3Ich weiß, dass Sicherheit immer vorgeht.I know that safety always comes first.priority, verb at the end
Verb family
More verbs built on gehen
Same base verb, a different prefix, a new meaning.
- ausgehento go out, assume
- eingehento deal with, give attention
- weitergehento go on
- angehento concern, go on
- zurückgehento go back, decrease
- umgehento treat, handle
- hingehento go there
- zugehento approach, close