reissen
to tear, rip
- Past (Präteritum)
- riss
- Past participle
- gerissen (haben)
The verb exhibits a strong vowel change (ei-i-i) in the past tense. When intransitive and implying movement or a change of location, it often takes sein, but in this context of tearing tape, it takes haben as a transitive verb indicating physical action on an object. Note the spelling with ß which stays throughout the conjugation, though it becomes ss before a vowel suffix in some archaic or non-standard variants, but standard is always ß in the infinitive and past stem here (riss). The participle uses 'gerissen'. Many common compounds are separable (abreißen, zerreißen). In the past tense, the stem is riss (1sg/3sg) and rissen (plural). Imperative is 'reiß!'. Konjunktiv II is 'risse'. It is important to distinguish this from 'reisen' (to travel), which is a weak verb with an s instead of ß and takes 'sein'. Compounds often shift meaning significantly, such as 'reißen' (physical act) versus 'zerreißen' (destroy by tearing). Past participle remains 'gerissen' regardless of prefix in most cases (e.g., abgerissen). Note that when used in idioms like 'sich zusammenreißen', it takes 'haben'. 'Sich losreißen' would take 'sein' as a motion verb. Common confusion: the present stem is 'reiß-' and the past stem is 'riss-'. The vowel is long in the infinitive and short in the past tense, which is reflected in the orthography: 'reißen' (long ei) vs 'riss' (short i). This verb is very common in everyday language for destroying things or tearing off segments of a larger whole. Its reflexive usage 'sich hinreißen lassen' is a common idiomatic expression for 'getting carried away'. Other frequent compounds include 'einreißen' (to tear down or start a rip) and 'aufreißen' (to rip open). Most are highly contextual and can be used transitively or intransitively depending on the situation. The past participle 'gerissen' is also used as an adjective meaning 'sly' or 'cunning'. The verb is a core component of German vocabulary for manual tasks. Be careful not to confuse the conjugation of 'reißen' with weak verbs that end in -en like 'reisen' or 'lassen' which do not exhibit the same strong paradigm. It is an essential verb for describing physical force applied to materials. Always watch for the change in consonant length (ss vs ß) in dictionaries, as orthographic rules can be tricky for learners. In general, 'reißen' is a high-frequency verb.
Conjugation
Present
- reisst
- present, singular, third-person
- reisse
- first-person, indicative, present, singular
- reissen
- first-person, indicative, plural, present
Past
- riss
- past
- rissen
- first-person, indicative, plural, preterite
- rissest
- indicative, preterite, second-person, singular
- risst
- indicative, preterite, second-person, singular
Subjunctive
- reisse
- first-person, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-i
- reissen
- first-person, plural, subjunctive, subjunctive-i
- reissest
- second-person, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-i
- reisset
- plural, second-person, subjunctive, subjunctive-i
- risse
- first-person, formal, rare, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii
- rissen
- first-person, formal, plural, rare, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii
- rissest
- formal, rare, second-person, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii
- risst
- formal, rare, second-person, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii
- risset
- formal, plural, rare, second-person, subjunctive, subjunctive-ii
- habe gerissen
- first-person, multiword-construction, perfect, singular, subjunctive
- sei gerissen
- first-person, multiword-construction, perfect, singular, subjunctive
- haben gerissen
- first-person, multiword-construction, perfect, plural, subjunctive
- seien gerissen
- first-person, multiword-construction, perfect, plural, subjunctive
- habest gerissen
- multiword-construction, perfect, second-person, singular, subjunctive
- seist gerissen
- multiword-construction, perfect, second-person, singular, subjunctive
- seiest gerissen
- multiword-construction, perfect, second-person, singular, subjunctive
- habet gerissen
- multiword-construction, perfect, plural, second-person, subjunctive
- seiet gerissen
- multiword-construction, perfect, plural, second-person, subjunctive
- hätte gerissen
- first-person, multiword-construction, pluperfect, singular, subjunctive
- wäre gerissen
- first-person, multiword-construction, pluperfect, singular, subjunctive
- hätten gerissen
- first-person, multiword-construction, pluperfect, plural, subjunctive
- wären gerissen
- first-person, multiword-construction, pluperfect, plural, subjunctive
- hättest gerissen
- multiword-construction, pluperfect, second-person, singular, subjunctive
- wärst gerissen
- multiword-construction, pluperfect, second-person, singular, subjunctive
- wärest gerissen
- multiword-construction, pluperfect, second-person, singular, subjunctive
- hättet gerissen
- multiword-construction, pluperfect, plural, second-person, subjunctive
- wärt gerissen
- multiword-construction, pluperfect, plural, second-person, subjunctive
- wäret gerissen
- multiword-construction, pluperfect, plural, second-person, subjunctive
- werde reissen
- first-person, future, future-i, multiword-construction, singular, subjunctive, subjunctive-i
- werden reissen
- first-person, future, future-i, multiword-construction, plural, subjunctive, subjunctive-i
Imperative
- reiss
- imperative, second-person, singular
- reisse
- imperative, second-person, singular
- reisst
- imperative, plural, second-person
Participle
- gerissen
- participle, past
- reissend
- participle, present
Infinitive
- reissen
- infinitive
Other
- habe gerissen
- first-person, indicative, multiword-construction, perfect, singular
- bin gerissen
- first-person, indicative, multiword-construction, perfect, singular
- haben gerissen
- first-person, indicative, multiword-construction, perfect, plural
- sind gerissen
- first-person, indicative, multiword-construction, perfect, plural
- hast gerissen
- indicative, multiword-construction, perfect, second-person, singular
- bist gerissen
- indicative, multiword-construction, perfect, second-person, singular
- habt gerissen
- indicative, multiword-construction, perfect, plural, second-person
- seid gerissen
- indicative, multiword-construction, perfect, plural, second-person
- hat gerissen
- indicative, multiword-construction, perfect, singular, third-person
- ist gerissen
- indicative, multiword-construction, perfect, singular, third-person
- hatte gerissen
- first-person, indicative, multiword-construction, pluperfect, singular
- war gerissen
- first-person, indicative, multiword-construction, pluperfect, singular
- hatten gerissen
- first-person, indicative, multiword-construction, pluperfect, plural
- waren gerissen
- first-person, indicative, multiword-construction, pluperfect, plural
- hattest gerissen
- indicative, multiword-construction, pluperfect, second-person, singular
- warst gerissen
- indicative, multiword-construction, pluperfect, second-person, singular
- hattet gerissen
- indicative, multiword-construction, pluperfect, plural, second-person
- wart gerissen
- indicative, multiword-construction, pluperfect, plural, second-person
- reissen werden
- future, future-i, infinitive, multiword-construction
- werde reissen
- first-person, future, future-i, indicative, multiword-construction, singular
- werden reissen
- first-person, future, future-i, indicative, multiword-construction, plural
- wirst reissen
- future, future-i, indicative, multiword-construction, second-person, singular
- werdet reissen
- future, future-i, indicative, multiword-construction, plural, second-person
- wird reissen
- future, future-i, indicative, multiword-construction, singular, third-person
- gerissen haben werden
- future, future-ii, infinitive, multiword-construction
- gerissen sein werden
- future, future-ii, infinitive, multiword-construction
- werde gerissen haben
- first-person, future, future-ii, indicative, multiword-construction, singular
- werde gerissen sein
- first-person, future, future-ii, indicative, multiword-construction, singular
- werden gerissen haben
- first-person, future, future-ii, indicative, multiword-construction, plural
- werden gerissen sein
- first-person, future, future-ii, indicative, multiword-construction, plural