All German word comparisons · Back to the topic overview
Meaning, sentence patterns and examples
| Word | Core meaning | Typical context | Grammar |
|---|---|---|---|
| steigen | rise; increase | prices, temperatures, values | Intransitive; stieg, ist gestiegen |
| steigern | increase something; intensify | production, effort, performance | Transitive or reflexive; hat gesteigert |
steigen
Meaning and usage: With prices, temperatures or other values, steigen states that the level becomes higher. It does not require you to name a person causing the rise. The same verb can describe upward physical movement, but the examples here focus on changes in amount or level.
Grammar: Irregular and intransitive in the increase sense: steigt, stieg, ist gestiegen. The thing increasing is the subject, not an accusative object. Auf + accusative gives a resulting level; um + accusative gives the size of an increase.
Die Nachfrage ist im Sommer gestiegen.
Demand increased in the summer.
Die Temperatur steigt auf zwanzig Grad.
The temperature rises to twenty degrees.
steigern
Meaning and usage: Use steigern when someone or something increases a quantity, intensity or performance. In reflexive use, an emotion or intensity can grow, and a performer can improve. This means the contrast cannot be reduced to 'steigern always has a separate object.'
Grammar: Regular: steigert, steigerte, hat gesteigert. Etwas steigern takes an accusative object. Sich steigern uses an accusative reflexive pronoun. Neither form is separable. An um phrase can specify how much an amount increases.
Das Unternehmen steigert seine Produktion.
The company increases its production.
Die Läuferin hat sich im zweiten Rennen gesteigert.
The runner improved her performance in the second race.
Overlap and context
Die Produktion steigt and das Unternehmen steigert die Produktion can describe the same development. The first focuses on the change; the second names an agent causing it. Die Spannung steigt and die Spannung steigert sich also overlap, with the reflexive form presenting an intensification. Check the whole sentence rather than selecting a verb from an English translation alone.
Common mistakes
- Do not use steigen with a direct object to mean raising it: die Firma steigert den Umsatz.
- Use sein with gestiegen, but haben with gesteigert.
- Do not confuse auf, the new level, with um, the difference between old and new levels.
Memory aid: A value steigt; someone steigert a value; performance can sich steigern.
Try it
Complete with steigen or steigern: Die Firma möchte ihre Produktion ___.
Show the answer
steigern
The company increases its production; the production is an accusative object. With steigen, the production would be the subject: Die Produktion steigt.