verb

warten

wait

Etwas nicht sofort tun, sondern eine Zeit lang still bleiben oder geduldig sein, bis etwas passiert oder jemand kommt.

Definition & meaning

warten has two main meanings:

To wait or wait for someone or something: to remain in a place or delay acting until someone or something arrives or happens.
- Ich warte auf den Bus. — “I’m waiting for the bus.”
- In this sense, it is commonly used with auf and the accusative.
To maintain or service a machine, vehicle, or system: to inspect it and keep it in good working order.
- Der Techniker wartet die Anlage. — “The technician services the system.”

Grammar & Word origin

warten is a regular, weak verb. Its principal forms are wartete (simple past) and gewartet (past participle); it forms the perfect tense with haben : hat gewartet.

When it means “wait,” it is usually intransitive: Wir warten. (“We’re waiting.”) To specify what or whom someone is waiting for, use auf plus the accusative. In the “maintain/service” sense, warten is transitive and takes a direct object.

The verb comes from an older Germanic sense of watching or keeping watch, which is reflected in its meaning “to wait.” The technical sense developed as “to look after” or “keep something in working order.”

Synonyms & antonyms

Synonyms depend on the meaning:

For “wait”: abwarten often suggests waiting to see what happens or postponing a decision; sich gedulden emphasizes patience; verharren means to remain in a place or state, often more formally.
For “maintain/service”: instand halten [?](vocabuo://word/instand%20halten] means to keep something in good condition; reparieren means to repair something that is broken, so it is not always interchangeable with warten.

There is no single direct antonym for both meanings. Depending on context, losgehen (“set off”) or fortfahren (“continue”) can contrast with waiting.