weißen

Definition & meaning

weißen has two main uses:

1. Verb: “to whitewash” or “to paint white”
   It means covering a wall or another surface with white paint or limewash.

   • Wir weißen die Wände. — “We are whitewashing the walls.”
   • Die Fassade muss neu geweißt werden. — “The façade needs to be whitewashed again.”

2. Inflected form of the adjective weiß: “white”
   weißen is an adjective ending used with certain masculine accusative nouns or plural nouns, depending on the grammatical context.

   • Ich sehe den weißen Hund. — “I see the white dog.”
   • Die weißen Häuser sind schön. — “The white houses are beautiful.”

Grammar & Word origin

As a verb

• Infinitive: weißen [?](vocabuo://word/weißen)
• Verb type: regular, weak verb
• Meaning: to make something white by painting or coating it
• Present tense:
  • ich weiße
  • du weißt
  • er/sie/es weißt
  • wir weißen
• Past participle: geweißt [?](vocabuo://word/geweißt)

The verb is derived from weiß [?](vocabuo://word/weiß) (“white”) with the suffix -en, which forms verbs.

As an adjective form

As an adjective, weißen is the declined form of weiß [?](vocabuo://word/weiß). It commonly appears:

• before masculine nouns in the accusative: den weißen Hund
• before plural nouns after certain determiners: die weißen Häuser
• after possessive or indefinite determiners: mit meinen weißen Schuhen

Synonyms & antonyms

For the verb “to whitewash”

• weiß anstreichen [?](vocabuo://word/weiß%20anstreichen) — to paint something white; more explicit and commonly used for ordinary painting
• tünchen [?](vocabuo://word/tünchen) — to whitewash, traditionally with lime; somewhat more specific or old-fashioned
• kalken [?](vocabuo://word/kalken) — to coat something with lime; emphasizes the material used

There is no single exact antonym, but possible opposites include:

• färben [?](vocabuo://word/färben) — to color or dye something, without implying white
• schwarz streichen [?](vocabuo://word/schwarz%20streichen) — to paint something black, a direct color contrast

For the adjective “white”

• hell [?](vocabuo://word/hell) — light or bright, but not necessarily white
• farblos [?](vocabuo://word/farblos) — colorless; this does not always mean visually white

The direct antonym is:

• schwarz [?](vocabuo://word/schwarz) — black

Common phrases & collocations

• eine Wand weißen [?](vocabuo://word/eine%20Wand%20weißen) — to whitewash a wall
• die Wände weißen [?](vocabuo://word die%20Wände%20weißen) — to whitewash the walls
• eine Fassade weißen [?](vocabuo://word/eine%20Fassade%20weißen) — to whitewash a façade
• weiße Wände [?](vocabuo://word/weiße%20Wände) — white walls
• den weißen Schnee [?](vocabuo://word/den%20weißen%20Schnee) — the white snow