essen
to eat
To take in solid food. This is the general meaning for human food consumption.
EXAMPLE
Wir sollten etwas essen, bevor wir gehen.
We should eat something before we go.
essen
to eat
Checking...
Loading your saved state.
Meanings
zu Mittag/Abend essen
to have lunch/dinner
To have the main meal at midday or in the evening.
EXAMPLE
Normalerweise esse ich um 13 Uhr zu Mittag.
Normally I have lunch at 1 p.m.
essen gehen
to eat out
To visit a restaurant, inn, or eatery in order to have a meal there.
EXAMPLE
Wollen wir am Samstagabend italienisch essen gehen?
Do we want to go out for Italian food on Saturday evening?
essen
to eat
Describes the quality or enjoyment of a meal, often in connection with an adverb.
EXAMPLE
In diesem Restaurant kann man wirklich gut essen.
You can eat really well in this restaurant.
Usage tips
Word family: das Essen
The noun 'das Essen' is derived directly from the verb 'essen' (to eat) and means both 'the meal' and 'food' in general. Both words are central to the topic of nutrition.
EXAMPLE
Das Essen in der Kantine schmeckt heute besonders gut.
The food in the cafeteria tastes especially good today.
Common mistake
'Essen' (to eat) is a strong verb with a vowel change in the 2nd and 3rd person singular present tense. It is 'du isst' (you eat) and 'er/sie/es isst' (he/she/it eats), not 'du esst' or 'er esst'.
EXAMPLE
Mein Sohn isst am liebsten Nudeln mit Tomatensoße.
My son likes eating pasta with tomato sauce best.
Meals with 'zu'
To talk about the main meals of the day, the fixed expressions 'zu Mittag essen' (to have lunch) and 'zu Abend essen' (to have dinner) are used. The preposition 'zu' is a fixed part of these expressions.
EXAMPLE
Wir essen heute bei meinen Eltern zu Abend.
We are having dinner at my parents' house today.
In a restaurant: 'essen gehen'
The construction 'essen gehen' means to eat in a restaurant. In sentences, 'gehen' (to go) is conjugated, while 'essen' (to eat) remains as an infinitive at the end.
EXAMPLE
Lass uns am Freitag zusammen essen gehen.
Let's go out to eat together on Friday.
Evaluating a restaurant
To describe the quality of the food at a place, the impersonal form 'man kann ... essen' (one can eat ...) is often used. Here, 'essen' does not describe a specific action, but a general possibility.
EXAMPLE
In dieser kleinen Gasse kann man sehr gut und günstig essen.
You can eat very well and cheaply in this little alley.
Compare with
essen vs fressen
to eat / to devour
Essen neutrally refers to a person taking in food. Fressen can mean the same thing when used about people, but it sounds colloquial and derogatory because it emphasizes greedy, fast, or bad-mannered behavior. Essen is appropriate in a normal statement about a meal; when there is clear criticism, fressen may be appropriate.
essen
Der Mann isst ruhig seine Suppe.
The man is calmly eating his soup.
fressen
Der Mann frisst seine Suppe hastig und ohne Manieren.
The man is devouring his soup greedily and without manners.
In real life
Loading video examples...