gekonnt
skilled
Carried out with great skill, ability, and confidence; masterful.
EXAMPLE
Sie hat die schwierige Situation gekonnt gemeistert.
She handled the difficult situation skillfully.
gekonnt
skilled
Checking...
Loading your saved state.
Meanings
Usage tips
Word structure
'Gekonnt' (skilled / skillfully) is the past participle of the modal verb 'können' (to be able to / can). It describes an action that was carried out with a lot of ability and skill.
EXAMPLE
Das war eine wirklich gekonnte Antwort auf eine schwierige Frage.
That was a truly skillful answer to a difficult question.
Use in a sentence
'Gekonnt' (skilled / skillfully) can be used as an adverb to describe a verb. It can also stand as an adjective before a noun or after verbs like 'sein' (to be) or 'wirken' (to seem / appear).
EXAMPLE
Der Pianist spielte das Stück sehr gekonnt.
The pianist played the piece very skillfully.
Typical collocations
The word is often used to describe handling difficult or unpleasant things. Typical combinations are 'etwas gekonnt ignorieren' (to skillfully ignore something), 'einer Frage gekonnt ausweichen' (to skillfully dodge a question), or 'eine Kritik gekonnt parieren' (to skillfully deflect criticism).
EXAMPLE
Er hat die provokante Frage des Journalisten gekonnt ignoriert.
He skillfully ignored the journalist's provocative question.
Compare with
gekonnt vs gelungen
successful / well-done
Gelungen and gekonnt can both praise a performance or a work. Gelungen mainly assesses the convincing result and its positive effect. Gekonnt, by contrast, emphasizes that great skill and confidence are evident in the execution.
gekonnt
Der Auftritt war gekonnt und zeigte die große Sicherheit der Musikerin.
The performance was skillful and showed the musician’s great confidence.
gelungen
Der Auftritt war gelungen und begeisterte das Publikum.
The performance was a success and thrilled the audience.
In real life
Loading video examples...