Learn begegnen in German. Build fluency with personalized exercises, chats, and video recommendations.
begegnen means "to meet" or "to encounter," usually by chance (not a planned meeting). It's a bit more formal/literary than treffen for "meet."
Important: begegnen uses the dative case (the person you meet is dative, not accusative) and is often used without an object because the person met is implied:
Ich bin ihm auf der Straße begegnet. (I met him on the street)Wir sind gestern dem Problem begegnet. (We encountered the problem yesterday - note: can also mean "to encounter/come across" experiences/situations)Common collocations:
jdm begegnen = to meet/encounter someoneeiner Person/einem Problem begegnen (dative case)Related Topics: treffen vs begegnen, Dative Case, Meeting People