töten
kill
The German word "töten" is a verb that means to kill or to cause the death of someone or something. It is used in the same way as the English word "kill" and can be used in both a literal and figurative sense. For example, "Er hat den Hund getötet" means "He killed the dog", while "Sie hat ihre Karriere getötet" means "She killed her career". It is important to note that the word "töten" has a strong negative connotation and is typically used to describe intentional or malicious acts of killing.
Example sentences using: töten
Er wollte niemanden töten.
He didn't want to kill anyone.
In this sentence, 'töten' is used in the context of expressing desire not to harm someone seriously. The subject 'Er' (He) negates the action 'töten' (to kill) by using 'wollte' (did not want) in the past tense.
Sie sagt, sie kann eine Spinne nicht töten.
She says she can't kill a spider.
In this example, 'töten' is used to express the inability of the subject 'Sie' (She) to perform the action 'töten' (to kill) on the object 'eine Spinne' (a spider). The phrase 'Sie sagt, sie kann' (She says she can't) expresses the refusal or inability to perform the action.
Wir müssen die Zeit nicht töten.
We don't have to kill time.
In this sentence, 'töten' is combined with 'die Zeit' (the time) to create the idiom 'die Zeit töten' (to kill time), which means 'to waste time'. The context of this sentence is the negation of the need to waste time.